Detectives from Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission have arrested Bomet county governor Prof. Hillary Barchok in connection with an ongoing investigation into the misappropriation of county funds. The sleuths impounded on the second term governor on Thursday morning while on his regular day activities at the Bomet county headquarters.
More reports indicate that after the arrest, the governor was whisked to his Kap James home to help the commission in the investigations and locate documents related to billions of monies that was meant for development.
The EACC is yet to state the exact case that led to the pursuance of Barchok but the governor’s administration has been marred by several cases of corruption allegations ove the last two years.
Bomet County Assembly recently called on Governor Barchok and the County Public Service Board to act against 18 county officers involved in the KSh1.573 billion embezzlement case in 2024.
The administration of governor Barchok has also suffered from scrutiny over mismatches in pending bills and unfinished projects. The Senate Public Accounts Committee wanted an explanation as to why the county reported KSh842.39 million as pending bills in June 2021 out of which only KSh637.43 million was verified giving a difference of KSh204.95 million. In addition, over KSh1 billion worth of projects, including the Sh532 million Chebang’ang water supply project, are still not finished being worked on after a lot of money has already been spent.
