Kisumu county government has paid Sh129 million pending bills days after contractors gave them a one-week ultimatum to pay the money or seek legal redress.
The contractors who stormed the county offices hours after the finance department went up in flames last week said they will be forced to deal with other authorities.
The contractors stated that despite the directive to pay by President Uhuru Kenyatta, nobody is ready to pay the pending bills.
However, in a statement, Governor Anyang' Nyong'o press director Aloice Ager said last week the government paid the amount to various providers of goods and services owed money.
Ager said this was the second round of payments of pending bills this financial year after the payments made in December 2019 totalling Sh45 million.
He noted that the current payment accounts for full settlements of pending bills found eligible by the office of the Auditor General for financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15 and partially settlements for the 2015-16 financial year in respect to 83 projects.
“The next phase of payment will commence after approval of the supplementary budget 2019-20 by the county assembly which will account for goods and services worth approximately Sh500 million,” he said.
Ager further stated that the county government had developed a policy of paying the pending bills on a first-in-first-out basis and is fully committed to following through to settle all ending bills cleared by the Auditor General.
Led by their chairman, Maurice Aloo, they said most of them are not able to provide for their families, pay fees, workers, KRA and cover basic needs.
“We are suffering when it comes to payments yet the works were already done, it is very unfortunate. It's either they act or they don't because at this point we will be forced to engage other authorities,” Aloo told reporters.
Finance office George Okong'o, however, assured the contractors that the county had been "up and down over the payments".
(Editeed by V. Graham)
