Kitui County Governor Dr. Julius Malombe’s administration is working on the payment of pending bills amounting to Sh2.4 billion he inherited from the former regime.
The Governor expressed concern that the bills do not reflect value for money and have some other audit queries which needed to be addressed before payment.
The Governor was speaking in his office at the County headquarters Wednesday after receiving a report from the Pending Bills Review Committee.
“This report submitted to me by the Assumption of Office of the Governor Committee is highlighting that my leadership as governor of Kitui County Government has inherited Pending Bills amounting to Sh2.4 billion,” lamented Dr Malombe.
According to the review committee’s report which was handed over to the governor by the committee chairperson Eng. Nicholas Muthui, the total value of eligible bills was Sh1.4 billion while the value of ineligible bills was Sh1.1 billion.
The Committee received a total of 55 claims and pending bills for Court Decrees, Arbitral Awards, Legal Cases and Legal fees with value Sh663,971,923.03.
“The legal claims should be addressed as follows: Certified Works Sh155,534,397.96, costs of decree and awards Sh11,040,305.70, payable legal fees claims Sh17,077,647.60, totaling Sh183,652,351.26,” the committee clarified.
Eng. Muthui unveiled that payment of the pending bills would be done on a First In, First Out (FIFO) basis and would be spread into three quarters.
In his presentation he also noted that where money was paid fraudulently, recovery proceedings should be instituted and county staff involved should also be surcharged where collusion between county officers and contractors to defraud the county was involved through signing of completion certificates while the work was either partially done or undone, he said.
Governor Malombe in his speech warned everyone culpable of corruption, saying that the culture of corruption is a cancer which must be dealt with once and for all.
“Do not go implementing a project that has no proper documentation. We will insist on accuracy of documents going forward because we intend to pay current contractors and other service providers on time, regardless of the pending bills. We have a duty to revive our county economy as that’s one of the key reasons our people voted us into office. We’ll pay all eligible pending bills. Only those pending bills that deserve to be paid will be. We’ll not politicize this issue,” said the County Boss.
Present in the presentation held at the Governor’s boardroom was Kitui Governor Dr. Julius Malombe, Kitui Deputy Governor Augustine Kanani, Kitui Deputy Speaker Christopher Nzilu Nzioka, a section of MCAs, clergymen, Incoming Chief Officers and CECMs, outgoing Chief Officers and CECMs.
By Denson Mututo and Groria Mwende
