Former West Pokot Governor Prof. John Lonyangapuo stunned an Eldoret court after he admitted to bypassing official procurement procedures to procure maize worth KSh 17 million during his tenure.
Testifying before Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo, Lonyangapuo confessed to using a direct procurement method to acquire 20,000 bags of white maize from Trans Nzoia County in an emergency bid to save lives during a severe drought in 2017.
"Your honor, I decided to bypass the procurement rules and purchased the maize through direct methods for my people who were on the verge of dying due to severe famine and drought," Lonyangapuo told the court.
The former governor, who now chairs the Board of Directors at the North Rift Valley Water Works Development Agency, said the decision was approved by the County Cabinet. He defended the move as necessary given the dire humanitarian crisis facing West Pokot residents at the time.
“I could not sit and watch the people who entrusted me with power die from hunger while we followed a bureaucratic procurement process,” he said.
Lonyangapuo was testifying in a case involving six senior county officials and a cereal trader accused of involvement in a KSh 17 million maize procurement scandal. The accused—Dr. Mike Parklea (former County Secretary), Solomon Mereng, Alice Chepkosgei, Joseph Lolamtumtum, Elvis Mwanga, Titus Mayech, and trader Margaret Tuitoek—have denied the graft charges. The offences were allegedly committed between October 2017 and July 2018.
All the accused are currently out on bond and are defending themselves against the corruption-related charges.
Lonyangapuo also revealed that his administration resorted to using photocopies of payment vouchers to pay suppliers after officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) seized original documents during a raid on county offices.
“The EACC officers came knocking on our offices before taking away original copies of payment vouchers, leaving us no option but to use photocopies to settle the payments,” he explained.
He maintained that the maize was delivered to various National Cereals and Produce Board depots in the region and was intended for distribution to drought-stricken families.
The case was adjourned to June for further hearing.
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