On September 6, 2021, the High Court made a significant move to curb corruption in Homa-Bay county government by freezing bank accounts belonging to phony companies used by corrupt officials to siphon millions from county coffers.
The court's decision targeted Hartland Enterprises Limited, a company registered under James Mumali Oyuka and Mary Pauline Oduor, whose accounts held at the Cooperative Bank of Kenya were frozen for six months to allow the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives to carry out thorough investigations.
The account, which had some Sh13.5 million, was frozen to prevent the money from being withdrawn, transferred, dissipated, or disposed of, a move that would render any application and intended recovery suit invalid.
According to EACC detectives, Hartland Enterprises had been fraudulently procuring contracts from Homa Bay County government, including a contract in July 2019 for the construction of MCAs offices worth Sh348 million. However, the land belonged to the national government, and despite the contract being stopped, Hartland was still paid Sh26.9 million by the devolved unit.
The detectives also revealed that Oyuka and Oduor, who are employed at the county government of Homa-Bay as Public Health Technician and Community Nurse respectively, received the money and then withdrew some in cash, transferred some to personal accounts, and handed some to senior officials like secretary Isaiah Ogwe and finance, economic planning boss Nicholas Koriko.
