Kisumu Deputy Governor Mathew Owili says that public money will be lost due to the government's latest announcement that the anticipated El Nino rains won't happen as projected by the meteorological agency.

The Kisumu deputy governor stated on the Citizen TV show that public funds are more likely to be lost at the national than county levels.

PHOTO | COURTESY Kisumu Deputy Governor Mathew Owili 

He added that national government agencies have already deployed significant resources to offset the consequences of El Nino, whereas county preparations have been minimal; thus, monies would be moved to other places.

“Out of the advice we first received from the national government, there have been preparations by national government agencies to mitigate the effects of El Nino, and the same has been happening with counties,” said Owili

PHOTO | COURTESY Kisumu Deputy Governor Mathew Owili 

“Money is likely to be lost. Counties may be able to reroute the money if they decide to put money aside for El Nino that we now know is not going to there… But we also have national government and national government agencies who have put in a lot of money that if the country is not keen will be lost,” he added.

Belgut MP Nelson Koech maintains that the funds set aside in preparations for el-nino rains will be accounted for.

PHOTO | COURTESY Nelson Koech

According to MP Koech, parliament would guarantee that the expected Ksh.10 billion distributed to counties to mitigate the predicted rains is used wisely.

"It's critical to ensure that those resources were used wisely, because I know there were people eager to get their hands on that money." "As MPs, we will oversee to ensure that no money is wasted," he stated.