Contractors demand Sh500m pay owed by Turkana government

At least 30 contractors and suppliers are demanding payment of pending debts owed by the Turkana county government.

They said they have completed the projects and supplied goods to the county government without payment.

The contractors and the suppliers claimed the county government owes them around Sh500 million.

They have urged the government to settle their debts or face legal action.

But Finance chief officer Abraham Losinyen said they don’t keep the money for contractors nor have they refused to pay anyone.

“Our requisitions are with the Controller of the Budget, over Sh800 million not approved,” he told the press in his office on Friday.

A businessman who declined to be named told the Star that he was owed Sh60 million for supplying goods to the county government.

“The delay in payment has ruined our business. This has resulted in the loss of property through auctioning, listing in Credit Reference Bureau, illness and in some cases even stress and death,” the contractor said, refusing to be named for fear of victimisation.

Another businessman in Lodwar, who also declined to be named, said he rehabilitated the county water pipes last year and the government owes him Sh5 million.

 “I finished the work last year and handed the project to the ministry of water expecting to be paid. I have gone to the office of finance several times asking for the payment in vain,” he said.

He was angry that he spent his last coin to complete the project in order to get paid so that he can foot his bills such as paying school fees for children, but that hasn’t happened.

Pius Ewaton, chairman of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Turkana branch, called on the county government to settle the bills of contractors and suppliers on time.

“The payment of contractors and suppliers should be done speedily and the county government should avoid diversion of intended payment,” he said.

Chief officer Losinyen confirmed that for the last two months the government hasn’t received approvals from the Controller of Budget.

“We have not been able to get money from the Controller of Budget. It's unfortunate that we had challenges for the last two months that affected the cash flow,” he said.

Losinyen said a report from the office of the Auditor-General done last year and released in March directed the county government to come up with a plan to pay eligible bills.

He said they were directed to develop payment plans to clear pending bills before they could be allowed to access the operational money at the Central Bank of Kenya.

“For the last month, we have been engaging the Controller of Budget to clear the bills because they were very categorical. We could not access the operational money without paying pending bills,” he said.

Losinyen said the issue has been addressed as they have managed to pay over Sh60 million that was supposed to be paid.

“We have made progress in paying. We have been allowed to access the office of the Controller of Budget who is currently processing all our requisitions, which are before them,” he said.

He said in the last two months they have accumulated a bill of Sh1.2 billion consisting of debts to suppliers and office operations. 

Edited by Henry Makori