Tana River County government Executive Committee Member for Finance Mr. Matthew Babwoya has clarified that the county government has a pending bill of Sh394, 944,553 and not Sh1.2 billion as claimed.
Babwoya, who was responding to claims from the Tana River Civil Society group, said the county government, through his department, had already paid Sh112, 133, 078, as part of the Sh507, 082, 631 debt, according to the Auditor General.
The executive member for Finance explained that out of the Sh1.2 billion bill claimed, the office of the Auditor General had established that only Sh507, 082,631 was eligible for pay by the Tana River county government.
“Out of the said Sh1, 202, 679, 386, we were asked to pay Sh507, 082,631. That was the only amount eligible for pay. The remaining Sh695, 596, 655 was termed ineligible, pending clarification details and documents for approval,” Babwoya said.
Speaking to the press Monday in his office in Hola, Babwoya said the County government would pay all the eligible pending bills, once the national treasury releases funds to the counties for 2019/2020 Financial Year.
“We have already paid Sh112.1 million of the eligibly owed amounts, and we will clear the remaining amount once we receive our share from the national treasury,” Babwoya added.
The finance member said that the remaining contractors, who were listed under the non-eligible amount of Sh695, 596, 655, would be paid if approval to pay was obtained from the Auditor General.
Tana River Civil Society group had called on the finance executive to give an explanation on how the assembly and administration had spent Sh210 million, on both foreign and domestic travels for the first nine months of the 2018-2019 financial year, and how beneficial the travels were to the taxpayers.
The group blamed the county government and assembly for misuse of funds, when the Auditor General’s report had reported a low absorption of development funds.
By Felix Mulu/Simon Guruba
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Information For Development
