By The Weekly Vision Team
A number of highly qualified professionals from Busia County are upset with Governor Paul Otuoma and some of his top officials, accusing them of scamming them out of hundreds of millions of shillings by promising them non-existent jobs in the county. The professionals say they were misled by Otuoma’s team, who promised them top county positions if they paid a “confidential fee.”
The professionals were told they could get jobs in the county’s executive branch if they paid between Kshs. 1.5 to 3 million each. This fee excludes additional expenses on lavish drinks, fuel for officials’ cars, and meals in expensive hotels in Busia, Kakamega, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nairobi, and Mombasa, as well as return air tickets for the officials to finalize the ‘deals’, this was before the governor announced his executive team.
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The complainants told The Weekly Vision in Busia that they paid the money in cash, MPESA, and bank transfers to contacts in the Busia County government, who assured them of the availability of the jobs with the knowledge of the country’s top officials. Many applicants still retain records of the M-PESA transactions on their phones and in their bank statements.
David Ouma Wesonga, a spokesperson for the victims, said, “I personally paid over Kshs. 2.5 million to a top executive official in several instalments within a month just before the interviews. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who paid for the no existent jobs.” Wesonga added, “Many others have just not come forward to complain, but the county’s Public Service Board officials are among those involved in the scam. Why are they scamming innocent job seekers?”
He explained that, like his colleagues, he realized he had been scammed after months of waiting without any communication from the service board or the contacts who had pocketed the money. This realization came after attending Public Service Board interviews at their headquarters in Busia town. The Weekly Vision’s investigation revealed that a top county official personally selected many of the applicants before the interviews were held assisted by his assistant.
Additionally, it is also emerging that Mr Victor Bwire holds significant influence over the governor’s decisions regarding the county’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department, more so than the CEO appointed by Governor Otuoma, the CEC has been starved of a budget for any development projects in his department.
The jobs scam victims told The Weekly Vision they only realized they had been scammed when they found out that some people who hadn’t paid any money had already received job offers and started working. Attempts to contact the officials who took their money were met with unresponsive calls and blocked numbers.
