Governor Barchok Sentenced to Jail

Bomet Governor Hillary Barchok has been sentenced to 30 days in prison by the Employment and Labour Relations Court.

Barchok and 10 others were found guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with orders directing the reinstatement of 595 employees.

Justice Anne Mwaure ruled that Barchok, together with County Secretary Simon Langat, the head of the County Public Service Board, and eight other senior county officials, had deliberately ignored court directives. 

The court found that they failed to reinstate the affected workers whose contracts had been terminated by the county government.

Those also found culpable include County Secretary Mutai Chief, Finance Officer Milka Rono, County Public Service Board Chair Alexander Rono, CEC Board member Emily Chesang, retired Human Resource Manager Eric Rono, and five other officials.

Barchok and the officials will serve their sentence at Nakuru GK Prison until they comply with the court orders by reinstating the 595 employees.

Their release is dependent on full compliance with the directive issued by the court.

"All contemnors (the 11) will be put in prison for one month, unless they settle all pending matters from 2024 before the case can be mentioned before court for directions," ruled the judge.

This comes months after Barchok was charged with seven criminal counts, including conflict of interest and money laundering, in connection with alleged irregular payments tied to county government contracts.

In a statement on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) noted that the charges stem from the alleged unlawful acquisition of funds totaling Ksh2 million from a construction company that conducted business with Bomet County.

Barchok appeared before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court on Tuesday where he was formally charged with the multiple criminal counts by the team led by Vincent Monda, assisted by Mercy Gateru, Alex Akula, and Delroy Mwasaru.

According to the prosecution, between November 14, 2019, and March 10, 2021, he unlawfully acquired an indirect private interest amounting to Ksh2 million through his dealings with Chemasus Construction Limited, a company that the County Government of Bomet had awarded contracts.

The court heard that the governor allegedly benefited financially from contracts executed by the construction firm, directly violating procurement regulations and anti-corruption legislation designed to prevent such conflicts of interest.

"The payments were tied to contracts awarded by the County Government of Bomet to Chemasus Construction Limited, including: Tender Number CG/KRB/006/2019-2020 for the route maintenance of Kimenderit–Kotoibek–Olbutyo Bridge Road, and Tender Number CG/DRPWT/004/2018/2019 for the hire of a grader," the prosecution noted.

Both contracts were awarded to Chemasus Construction Limited, from which Barchok allegedly received improper financial benefits that constituted a clear conflict of interest under procurement laws.

Barchok faces four additional counts of using proceeds of crime through a series of suspicious financial transactions conducted after receiving the initial payment. 

Between March 15 and March 29, 2021, he allegedly conducted multiple transfers from his Equity Bank account to another account.

The specific transactions included Ksh300,000, Ksh314,000, Ksh100,000, and Ksh750,000 transfers. 

According to investigators, these transactions were strategically designed to disguise the illicit origin of the funds he had received from the construction contractor.

The prosecution explained that this pattern of financial movements was consistent with money laundering activities aimed at obscuring the criminal source of the funds.