Kisumu Contractors want road map on payment of pending Bills

Chairman of the pending Bills Committee under the Kisumu Contractors and Supplies Association Maurice Onyango Aloo address the media in Kisumu where they want the county Government of Kisumu to have a road map on payment of pending bills-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo

 By Dickson Odhiambo

November 29, 2019

Kisumu Contractors want road map on payment of pending Bills 

There should be a clear road map on how and when pending bills owed to contractors within Kisumu County should be paid, Kisumu Contractors have said.

The contractors under the Kisumu Contractors and Suppliers Association want the County Government of Kisumu under Governor Prof. Anyang Nyong’o to give a clear way on how their pending bills will be paid.

They say some county governments neigbouring Kisumu County have come up with a road map on how and when the pending bills will be paid, adding that County  Government of Kisumu should follow suit.

Addressing the press after meeting representatives of the County Government of Kisumu today on the issue of pending bills, the contractors through the Pending Bills Committee Chairman Maurice Onyango Aloo said the county Government of Kisumu owe them about 780 million in terms of legible pending bills which should be paid as soon as possible.

Aloo says the County Government of Kisumu has also classified some pending Bills and illegible Pending Bills which amounts to an estimated over shs 600 million, adding that in total as contractors they are owed about 1.5 billion as pending.

The contractors want the County Government to say what plans it has and when intend to start paying them especially the legible pending bills.

The contractors also want the County Government of Kisumu to clearly clarify on what is known as historical and non-historical pending bills.

“Clarify to contractors what is considered as historical and non-historical pending bills. According to the circular released by the National Government, Kisumu had made attempts to pay the pending bills,” they say.

The contractors also want the county Government to consider freezing new contracts until historical pending bills are cleared.

They have vowed to continue piling pressure on the County Government so as to pay them the debts it owes them.

Kisumu County Executive Committee Member in charge of Finance and Economic Planning George Okong’o who also attended the meeting said they have sat down with the contractors and have tried to iron out the issues the contractors have raised including the issue of paying the pending bills.

He says the will start paying the pending bills in line with the National Government directive that was given recently.

“The national Government has directed all the county Governments to put a road map on how and when to start paying pending bills and we will basically do that,” Okong’o says.

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