Omtatah laments over zero accountability on loss of public resources
By Joel Masibo, August 12, 2025Busia County Senator Okiya Omtatah has stated that no one is being held accountable for the continued loss of public resources amid the outcry of funds embezzlement and misappropriation.
Speaking on a local radio station on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, the legislator argued that the perpetrators of graft, both at the county and national levels of government, walk scot-free with looted public resources even with proof of evidence.
No one is held accountable
”I think the issue of theft from the public has become an existential threat to the survival of the republic because, from the counties to the national level, nobody is being held accountable for the loss of public funds. You may recall when the Eurobond scandal happened in 2015, or thereabouts, the EACC promised to conduct an audit and give us a report. To date, they have not, and the alleged scam has grown from USD 2 billion then to USD 7 billion now.” Omtatah said.
The vocal Senator further revealed that the loopholes for stealing public funds are in the budgeting. ”The other area where a lot of theft occurs is through supplementary budgets. If you look at Article 223, it allows for a supplementary budget, but only one. Yet you will find Supplementary 1, 2, and 3, and you wonder what this is all about. It is at the supplementary stage that money is moved around, and that money is then appropriated. It is taken from development into recurrent expenditure, and then it is stolen.”
Okiya Omtatah has been embroiled in legal battles with the Busia County administration over critical governance issues. In his latest sentiments, Omtatah has pointed out that the particular county is still grappling with corruption.
”If you saw my audit on Busia, it established that Ksh5.2 billion was stolen in the 2022/2023 financial year. In just one year, Ksh5.2 billion out of a budget of 8.6 billion — that is not even theft; it is looting. And when you go on the ground in Busia, nothing is happening since the new governor came in. The real theft is done through the IFMIS. When I was reviewing the Busia case, we found, for example, a provision of 9 million for tea and snacks in the governor’s office. It was paid five times, meaning 27 million was paid out in one year for tea and snacks alone.” Omtatah added.
Meanwhile, this development unfolds at a time when Kenyans are still puzzled by the e-Citizen lost money scandal.