The Senate County Public Investment and Special Funds Committee, chaired by Senator Godfrey Osotsi, yesterday put Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya to task over a decade of fiscal negligence and the potential loss of over Ksh 75 million in public funds.
The interrogation, centred on the Auditor General’s 2024/2025 report, painted a grim picture of the County Youth and Women Fund. Of Ksh 102 million disbursed since 2013, a staggering Ksh 75.7 million remains outstanding, secured by “soft assets” such as household radios.
Senator Osotsi did not mince words regarding the legal breaches, specifically the failure to renew the fund’s approval after its 10-year expiry under Regulation 197(1).
“Governor, this is a textbook case of management collapse. Operating a fund for a decade without renewal while failing to recover millions is a blatant breach of PFM regulations that we cannot overlook,” Osotsi declared.
The scrutiny intensified as the committee examined the Nawiri Fund and the Car Loan scheme, where Ksh 89.9 million was advanced in multiple loans to just twelve officers. Senator William Kisang questioned the logic of the previous administration’s lending criteria.
“How does the county expect to recover millions when the collateral listed includes items like old radios? This isn’t a revolving fund; it is a haemorrhage of public resources under the guise of empowerment,” Kisang Remarked.
Governor Natembeya, while acknowledging the “political” nature of past lending, defended his administration’s reform agenda. “I inherited a mess where loans were issued as political rewards without documentation. We have stopped further allocations and are winding up these defunct structures. Our new ‘Nawiri’ mechanism is designed to ensure recovery is tied directly to government tenders, preventing further loss of taxpayer money,” Natembeya responded.
The Committee ordered a full recovery assessment and a status report on the proposed Social Empowerment Fund by the end of the fiscal year.
By Anthony Solly
