Busia Governor Otuoma Referred to EACC Over Ksh 176 Million Audit Irregularities
Busia Governor Paul Otuoma is facing renewed pressure after the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) recommended his referral to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for failing to act on audit queries involving unsupported expenditures amounting to Ksh 176 million. The Senate committee, chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’, accused the governor of ignoring earlier directives to discipline officers who did not provide documentation for key expenditures flagged by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
The audit red flags stem from the 2022/2023 financial year, where the Auditor-General found significant gaps in county spending, including unsupported domestic and foreign travel claims, irregular hospitality payments, and questionable consultancy fees. In March 2025, CPAC gave Governor Otuoma 60 days to take action under Section 62 of the Public Audit Act, which requires administrative sanctions against officers who fail to provide audit documents. However, by the time the Governor appeared before the committee on October 7, 2025, no written evidence had been submitted to demonstrate compliance. Otuoma insisted that some disciplinary processes had begun, but the committee found no documentation to support this claim, prompting them to escalate the matter to the EACC.
The case adds to growing scrutiny of Busia County’s financial management. In 2025 alone, the EACC opened investigations into members of the County Assembly Service Board over procurement irregularities, while six senior county officials were arrested in a separate Ksh 1.4 billion tender fraud linked to proxy companies. The Auditor-General has also raised concerns about declining revenue collection in the county, including a 70 percent drop in physical planning revenues, and revealed that some official county business was being conducted through unofficial email accounts. The Senate committee warned that continued non-compliance with audit directives threatens public trust and exposes the county to further financial losses.
The EACC is now expected to begin formal investigations into the unsupported expenditures, a process likely to determine whether administrative lapses escalate into criminal liability for implicated officers. The probe could also compel the Busia County Government to overhaul its internal financial controls, especially as conflicting audit narratives continue to emerge—including a disputed Ksh 5.2 billion review commissioned by Senator Okiya Omtatah. The outcome of the investigation is expected to set a critical precedent for how counties respond to audit findings and uphold accountability in public finance.