Nandi Education committee chairman Emmanuel Rono has resigned alleging ongoing graft in the department.
He cited the “unresolved” loss of construction materials and more than Sh200 million cash to build ECDE centres.
Rono told journalists in Kapsabet town on Tuesday his efforts to oversight the department and ensure prudent use of public funds had been frustrated by the Governor Stephen Sang’s administration.
He alleged that those guilty of graft were being protected.
Since Governor Sang took over, a plan to build 69 ECDE centres had stalled due to corruption and only four were completed, Rono said.
Asked for his comment on Rono’s accusations, Sang said he was aware of his resignation but referred the Star to the Education executive for more details.
Rono said the Sh7.3 billion county budget for 2020-21 did not allocate money for the ECDEs despite an outcry over the stalled projects.
“I don’t want to be part of the rot in the department. My efforts to streamline the department have been frustrated by the governor and his team and I would rather quit than wait to be blamed by the public that I was part of the rot,” Rono said.
In addressing journalists, however, Rono did not mention the same reasons in his resignation letter to the Clerk of the assembly.
“Kindly accept this letter as my formal resignation as the Chairperson for the Committee on Education and Vocational Training. I thank committee members for the support they accorded me during the time I served,” Rono said in his letter dated July 2.
Rono had led the committee last year to probe the loss of the building materials and money in the Education department. His team recommended sacking eight senior officials.
Governor Sang instead formed a task force to probe the loss; he transferred some of the officials for ignoring the recommendations of the assembly.
Rono said since 2017 the Education department in Nandi had faced serious problems that the governor had failed to resolve. Last week, while addressing a funeral at Lessos where he is MCA, Rono said he would quit to avoid blame.
“I am requesting the EACC and DCI thoroughly investigate the loss of money in the Education department and the entire county so the people of Nandi do not continue to lose public funds that were supposed to benefit them,” Rono said.
(Edited by V. Graham)