Elizabeth Ayoo’s tenure as speaker was characterized by drama as the MCA impeached her twice citing alleged abuse of office, gross misconduct and incompetence among other allegations
The immediate former Speaker of the Homa Bay County Assembly Elizabeth Ayoo allegedly spent Ksh. 3.3 million shilling on house rent using public money. A source at the Assembly revealed how during the financial year 2021/2022 the money was spent in respect of residential rent and rates paid for the Speaker’s official house.
However, the amount was not supported by a lease agreement and respective invoices. In the absence of these supporting documents, it was not possible to determine whether the payment was a proper charge to public funds. In addition, available records revealed that the rent was not paid directly to the owner of the house but was irregularly channelled through a firm of advocates as a settlement of legal fees for a case between the Speaker and the Homa Bay County Assembly Public Service Board. No plausible explanation was provided for converting the rent payment into legal fees. Ayoo’s tenure as speaker was characterized by drama as the MCA impeached her twice citing alleged abuse of office, gross misconduct and incompetence among other allegations.
The Assembly also paid Ksh. 6,345,573 as reimbursements relating to personal allowances out of which Ksh. 1,236,000 and Ksh. 875,000 was paid to twelve (12) members of staff as honoraria and police officers as top-up allowances, respectively, the payments were however not supported by signed payees’ schedules. Honoraria and police top-up allowances are not provided for in the Human Resource Policy Manual for the County Assembly. The police officers top-up allowances of Ksh. 875,000 were irregularly channelled through a firm of advocates as legal fees owed for a case between the Speaker and the County Assembly Public Service Board under unexplained circumstances.
The assembly also spent Ksh. 239,142,813 in domestic and foreign travel and subsistence expenses. The latter includes an amount of Ksh.10, 341,140 paid as per diem to 20 Members of the Homa Bay County Assembly including the Assembly Clerk and 7 other Members of Staff who travelled to Mwanza, Tanzania between 20th and 26th January 2021 to attend a meeting, there were no respective travel documents such as copies of passports, boarding passes and vaccination certificates and invitation letters as a proof of travel. Story was obtained from a report by the Auditor General for the financial year 2021/2022.
