Contractors storm county office, protest non payment

Tana River County Governor Hussein Dado has assured contractors that they will be paid their dues, once the county alleviates the crisis caused by the prolonged drought.

The governor’s assurance followed an incident earlier on Thursday afternoon where irate contractors stormed the county’s headquarters in Hola town protesting over non-payment.

The rowdy contractors stormed the finance department offices accusing an official of failing to pay them.

They said the finance office had paid some contractors who had undertaken mega projects.

Finance Director Francis Ngige, confirmed the incident and said they were addressing the issue.

Governor Dado said: “Tana River County has been paying our contractors on time. It is just that this time we have been confronted with an emergency and have directed all resources to provision of water to the people, which is taking the bulk of our payments.’’

Finance chief officer Boba Abdalla on Wednesday had promised the disgruntled contractors that they would be paid by Thursday.

But on Thursday, the contractors protested the delay saying some had been paid for the flagship projects and those supplying water to drought stricken residents.

On Wednesday, the county government suspended most of its activities to address the prevailing drought and posted a notice to the public stating that the treasury will deal only with water distribution programme.

“This is to inform the staffs and the public that the county treasury will be dealing with water trucking only. All other issues will be dealt with in due course. Kindly bear with us,” reads a memo posted on the county notice board by the county treasury.

During the scuffle some administration police officers manning the county premises harassed three journalists who were covering the incident after rowdy contractors pushed their way into the county offices.

One officer confiscated a camera from the Kenya News Agency senior county information officer Emmanuel Masha and deleted pictures he had taken.

The journalists including Tana River based standard correspondent Hassan Barisa and Royal Media Services Reporter were then kicked out of the county headquarters compound.

According to Mr Hassan, they reported the incident to Tana River police commander Mr Walter Aliwa who promised them to investigate the incident.

“He assured us he will investigate the incident and take appropriate action and asked Mr Masha to record a statement over confiscation of his camera,” added Mr Hassan.

The county Administration Commander Kiplagat Kipyegon apologised and ordered his officers to immediately return the camera to the KNA journalist.

The contractors were later addressed by some senior officials before dispersing after they were assured that they will receive their money by Friday.

Meanwhile, Governor Dado has appealed to the national government to consider buying cows from the county’s livestock farmers who are facing a water crisis and staring at starvation following a prolonged drought.

“The cows are growing weaker by the day we are asking that we be placed in the national government’s off-take plan because Tana River is most affected,’’ Mr Dado added.

The county says it is spending about Sh4 million daily in delivering water to 150 points and buying food for starving residents.