Kisumu County Commissioner Allasow Hussein has cautioned government officials against engaging in corrupt deals when rendering service delivery to Mwananchi. He called on the Heads of Departments and County Directors from various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies as well as Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies to spearhead the fight against corruption in the lakeside County. “We have seen the direction the national government has taken to fight corruption. We don’t want to be left behind as a county in the fight against corruption,” Hussein stated. Hussein said he would lead a team to crack down on the blatant corruption that has long plagued various government offices in a bold step to ensure that Kisumu is corruption-free. He warned the civil servants that personal enrichment and aggrandizement would not be tolerated, instead, they should work with transparency to serve Kenyans. “We have sensitised and warned all Heads of Departments in Kisumu to desist from corruption. We also ask members of the public not to attempt bribing government officers to get services that are free. We need this kind of unity to make Kisumu a corruption-free county,” he stressed. Mr. Hussein singled out the Lands and Fisheries departments as some of those where many questions concerning alleged graft have been raised. “Some officials from the Kenya Coast Guard Service have been compromised to allow illegal fishing to take place on Lake Victoria leading to overexploitation of fish stock on Kenya’s waters,” Hussein lamented. He added that Uganda and Tanzania where the fishing regulations are implemented still have enough fish stock. The CC made the remarks during the launch of the County Implementation, Coordination and Management Committee (CICMC) held on Tuesday in Kisumu. According to the CICMC team lead for Nyanza and Western regions Silvance Osele the committee coordinates and supervises national government projects, programmes and projects across ministries at the county level. Speaking at the occasion, Mr Osele assured that the advent of the CICMC would foster a multi-agency approach towards project implementation thus boosting efficiency and limiting bureaucracy. “Whenever the committee meets at the county level, their sole work is to verify, monitor and implement the national government programmes and projects. They will also identify bottlenecks and resolve them by suggesting tenable solutions but if it is beyond them, they will escalate the matter to the regional committee for consideration,” clarified the former Kasipul Kabondo MP. At the same time, he urged the Heads of Departments to foster public support for the various national government programs by disseminating the right information through public participation forums and barazas. “With the inauguration of the committee, you will start seeing serious state-sponsored activities taking place in this region. These will include the revival of stalled projects, monitoring and ensuring timeliness in the implementation of new projects,” Mr. Osele said.

Source: Kenya News Agency