By Lamu Reporter
Scrap Metal Council Chairman Francis Mugo has faulted Lamu Senator Joseph Githuku Kamau over what he termed as failure to effectively oversight Governor Issa Timamy’s administration on matters of transparency and accountability in the running of Lamu County Government affairs.
Speaking in Lamu today ahead of the UDA Party’s grassroots elections scheduled across the county, Mugo, who has declared his intention to vie for the Lamu Senate seat in 2027, said the incumbent senator has failed to hold the county government to account in the management of key sectors, among them healthcare, student bursaries and scholarships, and equitable distribution of job opportunities across the county’s communities.
“The Senate exists to check the Executive on behalf of the people, and going by the incumbent’s track record he has been absent, leaving the people to pay the price through poor services and broken promises,” Mugo told residents who turned out for the grassroots mobilization.
He noted that the Timamy administration has, for the past three years, posted poor performance ratings according to the Parliamentary Budget Office, which he said gave the county government a mean score of D.
“A mean score of D is not a report card any leader should be proud of. It tells you that money is being spent, but development is not following that money,” he said.
On healthcare, Mugo claimed the senator has failed to hold the county government accountable over the poor state of health facilities, alleging that some hospitals in the county continue to lack essential medicine despite budgetary allocations meant for the sector.
“Go to some of our dispensaries and health centres today and ask for basic drugs. In many cases, patients are being turned away or asked to buy medicine from private chemists, yet allocations for drugs are made every financial year, where is that money going, and why has the Senate not demanded answers?” he posed.
Mugo also took issue with the administration of the education bursary and scholarship kitty, claiming that the process has in some cases been marred by favoritism rather than need.
“Bursaries are meant to keep needy children in school, when allocation becomes about who you know rather than who needs it most, we are failing the next generation of this county,” he said.
Turning to employment, Mugo accused the county government of skewed hiring practices that he said have left some communities within Lamu underrepresented in public appointments.
“You will find one community being favored for jobs at the expense of other resident communities in Lamu, in the manner in which job appointments are being made,” he said, adding that the electorate has been “hoodwinked by political gimmicks instead of action.”
He called for a comprehensive job audit within the county government, saying such a report would expose imbalances in recruitment and guide corrective action.
“I am calling for a full job audit of this county government, department by department, so that residents can see for themselves how appointments have been made over the years. That audit has not happened, and the senator who should be pushing for it has gone silent,” Mugo said.
Mugo, who is making a second attempt at the Lamu senatorial seat after an unsuccessful bid in 2022, said there was need to ensure the county executive is held to account over the management of public funds, citing what he termed as a poor rating awarded to the county by the Office of the Auditor-General under the current administration.
“Public participation and oversight cannot be seasonal, appearing only when elections are near. Accountability must be a daily demand, and that is the leadership Lamu deserves going forward,” he said, as he urged residents to actively participate in the ongoing UDA grassroots elections.
