“After a thorough and careful scrutiny of the files, we were shocked to find out only bills worth Ksh 235 million can be paid outrightly without further queries and even in those bills, there are some housekeeping that should be completed before the payments are effected,” said the report.

The Haron Nyakundi led committee also said that the committee came across bills amounting Ksh. 130 million whose certification and documentation were incomplete.

“The committee recommended that these bills can only be cleared after the contractors provide legible documentation in support. The list of other bills worth 1.2 billion cannot be paid since they lack a single document other than an award letter that can be generated anywhere, even in the streets. They cannot prove that they were contacted by the county government to do the works” read part of the report.

The chairman shocked members of the public who thronged the Gusii stadium and others following the event live from all the nine sub counties, when he announced that contractors were habitually harassed by county officers responsible for project inspection.

“The officers demanded bribes from the contractors. No single project could be inspected before the bribe is given out. Surprisingly, we came across a letter from a Chief Officer commanding that no site can be inspected unless the contractors pay money as kickbacks upfront,” he revealed, adding that it was unfortunate that an accounting officer can give such a directive in writing.

Again, the report shows that some projects were marked as complete while during the tour to the ground, it was established that the projects were either incomplete or had not started at all, some had exaggerated prices while others were poorly done.

The Governor promised that his administration will only pay genuine bills and issued a stern warning to contractors with bogus bills and employees who siphoned government money that they will be prosecuted.

“The report will be tabled at Cabinet for implementation. It will also be presented to the National treasury and the office of the Controller of Budget. We will further prepare an ‘acceptable pending bills payment plan’ and adhere to it as advised by the Controller of Budget,” said Simba.

The governor indicated that the report will help his administration to address

the issues raised, and possibly help us separate chaff from wheat, in-order to pay all eligible pending bills while taking to task those found questionable.

Ends..