Some of the contractors that worked on various county projects in Trans Nzoia may not be paid.
The payments also affect companies that supplied goods and services to the county
According to a report by a task force formed by Governor George Natembeya last year, out of Ksh1.6 billion pending bills that the county had, only Ksh551 are eligible for payment.
The report presented to the governor on Friday, March 10, 2023, indicated that the remaining Ksh1 billion were found to be ineligible.
The task force attributed the high level of ineligibility to uncontrolled and flawed procurement methods, unsupported bills, lack of evidence of goods and services receipt, and failure to demonstrate value for money.
Speaking when he received the report, Governor Natembeya promised to implement it in accordance with the law.
He further said he will empower county staff to provide efficient and effective services to the public.
“It pains me to have inherited such broken systems I don’t understand why leaders entrusted with leadership would choose to bring the county down in the way they did,” the county boss said.
I received an audit report on pending bills and Human resources from the taskforce this afternoon and have gone through its findings with utter shock. It pains me to have inherited such broken systems I don't understand why leaders entrusted with leadership would choose to bring pic.twitter.com/jyim9ZuRKj
— George Natembeya EBS (@Natembeya_G) March 10, 2023
The 7-member task force was constituted late in 2022 and mandated to carry out a forensic audit on pending bills and a human resource audit.
The task force was gazetted on October 21, 2022.
Unwilling to pay
When he unveiled the team, the county boss said it would advise, verify and guide on the settlement of genuine pending bills before payments are done and undertake the audit of the human resource and staff establishment of the Trans Nzoia county government.
At the time, Natembeya dismissed allegations that his government was unwilling to pay the bills.
“There is a notion that my government is not willing to pay the bills, which is not true. All bills will be paid once the committee is through with verification,” the governor assured.
The task force had been expected to submit a comprehensive report within 30 days.
With the report now out, the county is expected to start clearing the genuine pending bills.
