Is Machakos county official hiring choppers using public funds?
Machakos County Chief of Staff Mwengi Mutuse has been accused of misusing public funds to hire choppers to attend private functions.
In pictures circulated on social media, Mr Mutuse is seen in the company of friends at an event said to have been the opening of a bar at Tawa market in Makueni County.
A video seen by Nairobi News also shows Mr Mutuse arriving in a chopper at an event in the company of three other people.
In a quick rejoinder however, Mr Mutuse denied the reports terming them as baseless.
“It is true I attended an event in Tawa, Mbooni, on Saturday night but I did not use a chopper. I arrived at the event after 10pm, no chopper flies at night,” Mr Mutuse told Nairobi News on phone.
Mr Mutuse admitted to attending many private events in choppers but maintained that the choppers are not hired by the county government.
“As for the videos you have seen about me alighting from a chopper it can only be from a different event. For the record however, I have not used a chopper paid for by the county for any private function. For the few times that I have used a chopper, I have actually been on lift by friends,” added Mr Mutuse.
The pictures of him riding in the chopper however seem to have rubbed some Machakos residents the wrong way, in light of the recent order by Governor Alfred Mutua to have all county staff’s lifestyle audited.
Absurdly, the Governor has himself been severally pictured arriving in choppers at events within and outside the county. He made such a grand entrance at Machakos Stadium during the Masaku 7s.