Asumpta Obore
The Busia County Government has been marred with cases of nepotism where senior officials have been accused of employing their own relatives in their numbers in complete disregard of the law.
Topping the list is the chairperson of the County Service Board Asumpta Obore who is alleged to have abused her position and went ahead to employ 18 of her close relatives.
The other one is the CEC for Finance, ICT and Economic Planning Phaustine Barasa who is alleged to have colluded with Obore to employ at least 15 of her relatives as Revenue clerks on permanent and pensionable terms.
Phaustine Barasa
Barasa, a former Secondary school Principal is loved and loathed by her Cabinet colleagues in equal measure due to her too her extra ordinary pride and arrogance.
Followong these revelations, some county government officials in the department of finance have now asking the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to move with speed and investigate the matter including the recently concluded recruitment of Revenue Clerks.
Last year’s recruitment had serious irregularities where atleast 60 percent of the Clerks came from Teso region while the Luhya side which comprises of Nambale, Matayos, Butula, Samia and Bunyala sub counties shared the remaining 40 percent with Barasa alone taking the lions share.
“ It is true that, at least 15 close relatives of Madam Phaustine and at least 18 of Madam Obore are here with us in the county. What baffled many of us is how 15 relatives can be employed under one directorate ,” said an official in the department of Finance whose name we have concealed for fear of victimization.
The official further said that the county government has in the recent years recorded low revenue collections something that if left unquestioned the County may end up losing a lot of money.
“The reason as to why Barasa employed 15 of her relatives as Revenue clerks is something that should be investigated not forgetting that she has already declared her interests to vie for Matayos MP seat come 2022”, the official reiterated.
It will be recalled that last year MCAs pointed fingers at the Revenue Clerks whom they accused of pocketing collected revenue leading to a decline in tax.
When contacted for comments, Barasa dismissed the allegations as False asking any person who may feel aggrieved to forward the matter to the EACC.
Efforts to reach Obore were futile as her phone was permanently engaged by the time of publishing this story.
