In Summary:
- Francis Tome’s defense
- Attached: County Attorney’s demand letter
- Attached: Francis Tomes’ response
In September 2019, the Bungoma County Executive, jointly with the Mbale Municipal Council in Uganda, organised an international benchmarking forum between Bungoma County and Mbale Municipality on waste management and disposal.
However, while in Mbale, the purported benchmarking forum was diverted into an informal interrogation concerning the alleged illegal employment of staff within the Office of the Governor—an agenda wholly unrelated to the stated purpose of the visit.
Upon return to Kenya, I formally requested the County Executive to prepare a report on the benchmarking visit and to table the same before the Bungoma County Assembly, as required for accountability and audit purposes. Despite repeated follow-ups, the drafting of the report was inordinately delayed.In 2020, owing to the absence of the said report and in order to comply with public finance regulations, I formally wrote to the County Executive demanding the report to enable me conclude and surrender the attendant imprest. No report was ever furnished.
Consequently, in August 2020, I duly surrendered the imprest on the basis of the documentation in my possession. This included complete Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) records detailing disbursements made to each beneficiary, including Members of the County Assembly and staff who participated in the trip.
From 2020 to date, no audit query, request for clarification, or issue of accountability was ever raised against me in respect of the said surrender.
Nearly seven (7) years later, the Bungoma County Attorney wrote to me demanding the “surrender” of the same imprest that had already been fully surrendered in 2020. Despite my written response referencing the prior surrender and attaching supporting evidence, the matter has inexplicably been escalated and presented before the Senate as a live accountability issue.
Demand letter from the County Attorney: Demand letter from Bungoma County Attorney to Francis Tome
More troubling is the fact that the County Government of Bungoma, through H.E. Governor Kenneth Makelo Lusaka and the County Attorney, has now alleged that the funds in question were meant for a 2019 “Christmas Tree Celebration”— a claim that is patently false, unsupported by any documentary evidence, and wholly inconsistent with the original purpose for which the expenditure was approved.
Francis Tome’s Response to Bungoma County Attorney:Francis Tome’s Response to the County Attorney
I therefore seek a clear and candid explanation from H.E. Governor Kenneth Makelo Lusaka and the Bungoma County Attorney on the following matters:
Why the facts surrounding the 2019 Mbale benchmarking trip and the 2020 surrender of imprest have been misrepresented before the Senate;
Why false, shifting, and contradictory narratives have been advanced regarding the purpose of the funds; and
Why demonstrably false claims have been procured and relied upon to justify my arrest and arraignment in court.
Public accountability cannot be founded on distortion of facts, retrospective invention of narratives, or the criminalisation of lawful conduct supported by verifiable documentary evidence.
Could this belated onslaught be connected to my Bungoma ELC Constitutional Petition No. E002 of 2026, presently before a court of law, challenging the unconstitutional and unlawful conversion of Kanduyi Airstrip into the so-called “Smart City” project?
Notwithstanding the continued misrepresentation of facts, I remain confident that H.E. President William Ruto is a firm adherent to constitutionalism, due process, and the rule of law, and would neither sanction nor condone the abuse of public institutions to settle extraneous, retaliatory, or collateral interests.
~ Francis Tome ~
