By Betty Luke
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has launched a Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) exercise in Isiolo geared towards strengthening county executive and assembly systems for fighting graft.
EACC Central Region head Mr Charles Rasugu said the exercise will help streamline existing systems and recommend measures to be put in place to ensure efficient service delivery.
“We want to ensure transparency and accountability in resource use by looking into any existing loopholes and recommending ways to seal them,” said Mr Rasugu who represented EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak.
He revealed that the exercise had been conducted in 22 other counties which he said were reporting improved services.
“In some of the counties, there were cases of conflict of interest in procurement process but we successfully locked the loopholes through the CRA exercise,” he noted.
EACC Corruption Prevention Department Deputy Director Mr Patrick Ashuruma said the exercise was not meant to investigate corruption allegations in the county government but putting in place systems to avert corruption incidences.
He said the agency would also involve members of the public to understand their views in order to improve service delivery to them.
“We will also review the ongoing mega projects to understand the measures that the county government has put in place to avert misuse of public funds and offer advisory services where needed,” said Mr Ashuruma.
He appealed to Governor Mohammed Kuti’s administration to accord maximum support to the team undertaking the exercise.
“The team should be accorded maximum cooperation and given a conducive working space including access to the county government online system,” said the official adding that the team will ensure confidentiality of information availed to them.
Governor Kuti while assuring that his government will cooperate with the EACC officers told off local leaders who have been accusing his administration of misappropriation of public funds saying he had ensured prudent use.
“If money had been misused, there would be no visible projects in the county. We have ensured that every cent is used for the right purpose,” he said.
