Three senior Vihiga County executives are staring at possible sanctions after the County Assembly approved separate motions to investigate them over alleged abuse of office, financial irregularities, and incompetence.
In a marathon session, MCAs unanimously backed the formation of ad-hoc committees to probe Transport and Infrastructure chief officer Eng. Rodgers Etale Tunya, Public Service chief officer Philip Gavuna, and Gender, Culture, Youth and Sports chief officer, Silvester Kaane.
All of them happen to be close to governor Wilbur Ottichilo.
Transport chief officer Tunya came on the spot during the sitting chaired by Deputy Speaker Eric Odei when Wodanga ward MCA and minority leader Vincent Atsiaya’s motion was adopted by the house and seconded by Caleb Ndolo, to investigate Eng. Tunya.
The chief officer is accused of mismanaging the Sh50 million county machine leasing programme for road maintenance in FY 2025-2026.
MCAs cited his failure to account for the funds as the departmental accounting officer.
Other accusations include failure to operationalise the county mechanical unit despite budget allocations; poor custody of county assets; obstructing payments to contractors who had completed works; and deliberately grounding county machines to pave way for private contractors, causing massive revenue losses through pilferage.
Members said his conduct violated Article 10 and 174 of the Constitution, citing negligence, nepotism, and loss of public funds.
In the other sitting, the public service chief officer is also under probe.
Richard Muhiga moved a motion seconded by Dominic Baraka, to investigate public service chief officer, Philip Gavuna.
The committee will probe his role in deployment, redeployment, dismissal and promotion of staff; irregularities in payroll management leading to loss of funds; mismanagement of county finances; and handling of assets and liabilities contrary to the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.
MCAs also want to establish if he violated the Constitution while in office.
A third motion by Duncan Nkrumah Abudiku, seconded by. Mavisi, targets CO Silvester Kaane of Gender, Culture, Youth and Sports.
The probe will focus on compensation of landowners around Kidundu Stadium and the utilization of Sh45 million allocated to the stadium over three financial years.
The committee will also verify expenditures from the Vihiga County Sports Fund, KIKOSCA games, County Anthem project, and youth board payments, including those made through payroll.
MCAs want to assess compliance with financial laws and whether the CO breached the Conflict of Interest Act, 2025 while executing his mandate.
Deputy Speaker Odei said the Assembly invoked Article 185(3) of the Constitution and Section 8 of the County Governments Act, 2012 to exercise oversight.
“The Assembly cannot watch as public resources are mismanaged. These committees must unearth the truth,” he said.
Each ad-hoc committee has 21 days to table reports with findings and recommendations, which may include sacking, surcharge, or referral to EACC and DCI.
Efforts to reach the three chief officers for comment were unsuccessful by press time.
