Assistant County Commissioner Arrested Selling Relief Food

Assistant County Commissioner Arrested Selling Relief Food

Assistant County Commissioner Arrested Selling Relief Food

Kilifi Assistant County Commissioner was detained by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Wednesday for allegedly stealing and selling relief food worth Ksh. 550,200.According to reports, Teddy Buya Bonaya stole one bag of beans and 105 bags of rice from Tana North’s poor residents in Tana River County in 2020.He was employed as an Assistant Commissioner in Tana River at the time of the offense before moving to the Ganze sub-county of Kilifi County.

The anti-graft commission launched investigations in April 2020 after receiving reports that 300 bags of relief food belonging to residents of Tana North were missing.The resultant file was forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to charge the suspect with abuse of office contrary to Section 46 as read with Section 48 of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, 2003.

Bonaya was nabbed in Malindi town and was immediately escorted to the EACC Garissa Regional Offices for processing.He is set to be arraigned before the Garissa anti-corruption court on Thursday, March 1, 2024.

This comes after Kitui county MPs criticised East Africa Community, Arid and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza, noting that it was humiliating for her to focus on relief food distribution instead of lobbying for development in semi-arid regions affected by drought.

“We need to see the cabinet secretary lobbying for water projects for the semi-arid Ukambani region, roads, high-level health facilities and jobs for our people but not this belittling relief food thing,” Kitui woman representative Irene Kasalu noted.

Residents of the Mavoko constituency received food distributions by the government on January 24 as part of the relief program. Each recipient was given two kilograms of rice and beans. In December of last year, the government warned those in charge of humanitarian food supplies that they would be held responsible for any discrepancies that were discovered during distribution.

Residents of Garissa expressed worries in December when relief food that was supposed to feed over 20,000 people impacted by floods brought on by El Nino rains but had not arrived, as distributed by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.