Shock in Busia as County Officer Arraigned for selling County Tractor Worth Millions

Drama and disbelief filled the corridors of the Busia High Court today as a senior county logistics officer was arraigned over the alleged illegal sale of a county tractor, a case that has laid bare the rot plaguing the devolved unit’s asset management.

Daniel Okana Ekesa, the prime suspect in what court insiders are calling “the tractor scandal,” stood before Chief Magistrate Edna Nyalotte to answer to charges of disposing of the county asset for a staggering Ksh 3 million. The incident in question is said to have occurred on August 22, 2022, but it is only now that the full weight of the law has caught up with the suspect.

Clad in a dark suit and appearing composed, Ekesa pleaded not guilty to the allegations, his lawyers arguing that the sale was neither authorized nor personally beneficial to him in the manner the prosecution alleged. After a tense back-and-forth, the court granted him bail set at Ksh 1 million.

Onlookers and county staff who had gathered outside the courtroom expressed mixed reactions, some stunned that a senior official in charge of logistics could be linked to the disappearance of such a vital piece of machinery, others murmuring that this might just be the tip of the iceberg.

The case has ignited fresh conversations about corruption within Busia County, especially coming at a time when sources reveal that the county is grappling with over 24 corruption-related accounts currently under investigation. These accounts, valued at an estimated Ksh 5 billion, are said to be actively under scrutiny by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) alongside other investigative agencies.

For many locals, the sight of a county official being paraded in court over a tractor is symbolic of a deeper systemic crisis. “If a tractor can vanish and be sold off like a personal item, what else has been lost?” posed one resident who declined to be named for fear of reprisal.

The matter is set to be mentioned again in three weeks’ time, as investigators are expected to present more evidence linking the suspect to the fraudulent transaction.

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on county leadership to explain how assets meant to serve the public continue to end up in private hands allegedly with the help of those trusted to protect them.