The best person to catch a thief is another thief, probably because he or she knows how thieves think. This might have been what advised Bungoma Governor Ken Makelo Lusaka to hire some of the members onto the Commitment Verification Committee on 12th Oct. 2022 to verify project commitments made in the system as at 30th June 2022 for the last five (5) years.
The committee consists of:
- Ben Cheboss Juma – Chairman
- Roselyne Akoth Oluoch – Secretary
- Brigid Wabomba – Member
- Jedidah Kulundu – Member
- Lydia Amoit – Member
- Brian Walumoli – Member
- Joyce Wakhisi – Member
- James K. Rutto – Member
- Erastus Mwaka – Member
- Christine Masinde – Secretariat
Through ikuweikuwe.com research on the committee members I noticed that some had been found to have stolen funds from the County govt. of Bungoma a crime the culprits owned up to and agreed to pay the money as follows;
By Paul Ogemba – The Standard | Feb 02, 2022
County staff to refund stolen Sh17m in exchange for freedom
Twelve employees of County Government of Bungoma have agreed to refund Sh17 million they misappropriated from the county coffers in exchange for freedom.
The total amount they will pay will, however, increase to Sh25.6 million to include six per cent interest from the time they misappropriated the funds in 2014
This will be part of the out-of-court settlement they struck with Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to avoid prosecution.
EACC through lawyer Olga Ochola in its application to have the settlement recorded and adopted as a court order stated that they had several meetings with the employees based on the evidence collected after which they agreed to repay to clear their names.
“The employees admitted liability that they were paid the amounts for trainings which were never held. They have agreed to refund Sh17,358,000 as benefits they illegally received for which the commission also agreed not to take action against them,” said Ochola.
The employees are Howard Logadilu, Joyce Wakhisi, Erastus Mwaka, Ledisha Dorcas, Charles Kamau, Vincent Ngeiywo, Evarest Wafula, Hillary Changwony, Chrispinus Barasa, Paul Masinde, George Ogolla and Oscar Ojwang.
Additionally, ikuweikuwe.com gathered the following on the membership
Ben Cheboss Juma;
- Was once accused of doing direct procurement of fuel from Total Webuye 30kms from Bungoma town forcing vehicles operating within the Headquarters to run 60kms (30kms to and fro) to get fuel and back to run errands. With this in mind, I do hope Cheboss will include the amount of fuel lost over the six-year period due to his oversight. His deputy was Brigid Wabomba
- Also alleged to have bought the governor’s vehicle at 20million a purchase that prompted Wangamati to move him from the procurement office.
Joyce Wakhisi; Was redeployed from the cash office allegedly following disappearance of cash
Brian Walumoli;
- Was allegedly chased from the Water depart due to a scandal… Will it be part of the report?
Jedidah Kulundu:
Chased by Mosongo from the Assembly leaving her to hang around with no work station for years.
The committee comprises members who are juniors to the officers they are investigating with the highest committee member being of a job group L making it look demeaning when it comes to summons and/or interrogation.
Our efforts to reach members for comment was futile.
