For over six months since the Migori Cultural Extravaganza and Piny Luo Festival 2025 ended on 17th December 2025, desperate suppliers, consultants, and service providers who delivered media coordination, logistics, site preparation, sports management, protocol, and communications services remain unpaid by Elgon Group the firm handed the lucrative county contract.
Despite completing every assignment professionally and ensuring the event’s success, these hardworking Kenyans are now sinking into debt, with families suffering and businesses on the brink of collapse, while Elgon Group and county insiders allegedly sit pretty on public funds.
The affected parties have repeatedly engaged Elgon Group without success, even as credible reports confirm the company received substantial payments from Migori County.
In a strongly worded petition to Governor Dr. Ochillo Ayacko, the suppliers revealed that Elgon Group itself claims the County is yet to release 70% of the balance due. Yet on 22nd January 2026, the Controller of Budget, Dr. Margaret Nyakang’o, explicitly approved Ksh 105 million from the exchequer to facilitate the Piny Luo Cultural Festival.
The funds were meant to be regularized in the Supplementary Budget so where is the money?Sources within the payment chain point directly at Chief Officer for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. John Achuora, accusing a powerful cartel operating inside the county’s finance department of deliberately slowing down and frustrating legitimate supplier claims.
These are not mere bureaucratic delays they are calculated bottlenecks that allow insiders to manipulate cash flow long after public money has been released. Suppliers now demand that Dr. Achuora publicly explains the status of all Piny Luo Festival payments and answers why small businesses are left to bleed while files gather dust on official desks.
At the heart of this rotten arrangement is the seamless cartel pipeline running through Mr. Dennis Wasike, Liaison Officer in Migori County, whose wife Jacquey Kivindyo works closely with the CEO at Elgon Group.
This husband-and-wife connection has become the golden gateway for securing county contracts: a public employee channeling lucrative tenders straight to his spouse’s employer, enabling influence peddling, favoritism, and total bypass of fair procurement rules.
This is classic crony capitalism — county officials awarding fat deals to connected companies, then dragging their feet on payments to downstream suppliers while the inner circle allegedly benefits.
The suppliers have drawn a firm line: they have given the county and Elgon Group fourteen days to resolve all outstanding payments or face immediate legal action for breach of contract and damages. “We delivered on our obligations and made the Governor’s flagship cultural event a success,” one supplier stated.
“No business should be destroyed after fulfilling its part of the deal.”Governor Ochillo Ayacko and Dr. John Achuora must act immediately. Release the funds, break the cartel stranglehold, and pay these suppliers in full before courts, public outrage, and investigative authorities tear this scandal wide open.
The people of Migori deserve better than a festival funded by taxpayers that leaves honest service providers bankrupt while a few connected families feast. Pay them now.
