Garissa is unlikely to comply with the President's directive that contractors without audit queries be paid by June 30 because the pending bills are crippling.
Governor Ali Korane on Tuesday said his administration inherited Sh4 billion pending bills from the previous regime. The debt is 50 per cent of the county's total budget.
Despite the huge inherited bills, there is no infrastructure on the ground to reflect the amount.“It is for this reason that we set up a task force to verify these bills. A similar task force was also set up by the national government but we are yet to receive their report,” Korane said.
The county's task force was suspended after the national government took charge of the bills' verification, he said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta Kenyatta had, during the 56th Madaraka Day celebrations in Narok, directed the National Treasury and the accounting officers of various ministries in both national and county governments to pay all pending bills that do not have audit queries by the end of this financial year.
Korane told the press in Garissa after attending the Idd prayers to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadhan that the county task force will have to be reactivated to complete the job and start paying contractors.
“With less than a month left, it is practically impossible to verify the projects and start paying the contractors as directed by the President.”
The governor said the county task force had - before it was disbanded - established that over 80 per cent of the projects could not be verified.
And even if it is established that they are genuine, money has to be found and budgeted for them to be paid.
Korane has time again stated that his administration inherited a huge debt and urged those whose bills were pending to be patient.
“Let me assure the contractors who undertook genuine work for the county that they will be paid. It is not in our interest to punish or withhold anybody's cash,” he said.
Contractors often clashed with former Governor Nathif Jamaa’s administration over non-payment.
