County and municipal council’s employees risk being prosecuted if they do not keep public properties in safe custody as the country transits to devolved government.
Addressing members of the public on Wednesday during a public forum in Kitale, a member of the transition Authority Simeon Pkiyach Pkatey cautioned public officers and council workers against engaging in corrupt deals like transferring of public assets to individuals.
“Those who would be implicated in corrupt deals risk being fined KES 10 million or being imprisoned for a period of seven years or both,” he warned
He said they will have to conduct auditing of all counties and municipal council assets before the records are handed over.
“We want to ensure that public assets are safeguarded because corrupt employees might take advantage of the transition period to steal them,” said Pkiyach.
Pkiyach reiterated that the interviews for the county secretaries and chief finance officers have been completed and they would be taking their offices as from next week.
He pointed out that the county commissioners and the county coordinators would oversee the swearing in of the governors.
“The transition authority has a plan that will ensure that no conflict of interest arises between the new county officers who will soon be deployed to prepare the handing over of powers to the county government,” he added.
Pkiyach noted that the offices for the new officers in Trans Nzoia County are ready.
“The county government will use the Nzoia and Kitale municipality premises because there are more than enough to accommodate all offices stipulated in the new constitution," he noted.
He also observed that if the country goes to a run off, the county governments would not be affected as governors, county representative and senators would be elected by simple majority.
“There is no need to worry about a run off. After the swearing in of the governors, it will take fourteen days for the county governments to start their operations,” he said.
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