Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja has refused to pay more than Sh500 million pending bills inherited from his predecessor.
Payment is not justified because a report has revealed there’s no documentation, he said on Wednesday on receiving the report.
The county will forward the Task Force and the Pending Bills Committee reports to the government agencies for advice and possible action, including prosecution.
The Pending Bills Audit committee was set up to investigate and verify the pending bills, following the varying amount raised by the task force report that indicated a pending bill of Sh978,716,286 contrary to the Sh724,065,736 that was presented by the Assumption of Office Committee.
They were also to advice the Governor on the appropriate actions to undertake.
Samboja attributed some malpractices to limited policy and legislation.
“Weak systems and processes are a result of poor policies and regulations. As I receive this report, I undertake to ensure that as a county and in consultation with the assembly, we explore avenues of quick policy formulation,” he said.
The report states that Sh541,052,588 could not be confirmed for any payment as there were no documents forwarded to support the alleged pending bills.
Samboja said his administration will pay Sh21,552,528 pending bills that are supported by documents.
“We shall not pay out the Sh541,052,588 as recommended by this committee, because it is evident no paperwork and documentation has been produced by the contractors and suppliers to support the allegations of the existence of such bills,” the Governor said.
The Governor promised to makechanges in his administration to guarantee public confidence in management of public resources.
“A total of Sh21,552,528 qualify to be paid and Sh271,860,813 can be paid, subject to provision of the missing documents. It should be noted Sh85,000,000 had been paid out prior to the commencement of activities of this committee,” team chairperson Leonard Kalama said.