Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has challenged county leaders to provide evidence, following accusations by Governor Paul Otuoma that he has been stalling development in the county.

He said if the projects were stalled, leaders should explain what happened to the money allocated to them.

“I have heard Busia County leadership repeatedly claim that I have stopped development projects through court action. Today, I challenge them: produce the evidence,” Omtatah said in a statement posted on his social media platforms.

The senator argued that if genuine development projects had been halted because of his court actions, then the money allocated for those projects must still be sitting in project accounts, because public funds do not simply disappear because of a delay.

“Let the County Government produce the bank statements, project accounts, and financial records. Let them show the people of Busia: ‘This was the project. This was the budget. Senator Omtatah stopped it. Here is the money that remains untouched.’ But if the money is no longer there, then the question is not what I stopped. The question is where the money went,” he said.

Omtatah insisted that his court cases have never been directed at genuine development but at corruption, illegal procurement, abuse of public resources, and the grabbing of public land.

He cited specific examples, questioning the proposed use of ATC land, the unprocedural relocation of Busia Polytechnic, double payments on IFMiS, and requests for Bills of Quantities, contracts, and approvals, all of which he described as legitimate constitutional oversight, not sabotage.

“I haven’t stopped the provision of medical supplies to hospitals, or bursaries and capitation. Accountability is not sabotage. Transparency is not hostility. Oversight is not opposition to development,” he said, adding that the propaganda would not work on the people of Busia this time around.

The statement comes days after Governor Otuoma publicly accused Omtatah of frustrating county projects through litigation and endorsed former Governor Sospeter Ojaamong to challenge the senator in the 2027 elections.

“If they cannot show the people where every shilling is, then they must stop using my name as an excuse for failures that belong to them. The people of Busia deserve both development and accountability, and they should never be forced to choose between the two,” Omtatah stated, replying to former Busia Governor.