Homa Bay County Commissioner David Kipkemei is under scrutiny for alleged involvement in the mismanagement of Covid-19 disaster funds, according to internal reports. The commissioner is said to have collaborated with local cartels, including Isaiah Ogwe and Nicholas Koriko, to divert Sh10 million in emergency allocations, despite claims of public distribution of sanitizers and medical supplies.
Investigations suggest Kipkemei's actions mirror those of his predecessor Farah Kassim, who reportedly collected protection fees from cartels in 2017. This pattern of alleged misconduct coincided with the controversial ODM gubernatorial primaries and subsequent IEBC elections, which saw Governor Cyprian Awiti lose seven of eight constituencies to Oyugi Agwanga on August 8, 2017.
Senior officials, including Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, have reportedly been alerted to the situation. Kipkemei's transfer from the Mt Kenya region, where he previously operated under Herman Shambi, was seen as a strategic move, as Shambi had been a vocal critic of the county's corruption. The county government's handling of pandemic resources remains under intense public and political scrutiny.
