Vihiga contractors protest over Sh1.8bn debts

At least 200 contractors demonstrated in Mbale, Vihiga County, Thursday over failure by the devolved unit to settle their Sh1.8 billion debts accrued from work done during the 2014/15 financial year.

Waving placards bearing the messages "Ottichilo pay pending bills" and "Lipa madeni," the contractors demanded a meeting with Governor Wilber Ottichilo and County Commissioner Ochillo Oyugi.  

HEALTH FACILITIES

The protesting contractors carried out construction works, including grading of rural access roads, construction of health facilities and bridges. Most of them said they took bank loans and used their own funds to complete the county projects.   

Pressure has been mounting on the governor to settle pending bills and January salaries of county workers after the National Treasury withheld funds to the county.

A section of Vihiga MCAs on Wednesday protested over the delayed January salaries and threatened to institute an impeachment process against the executive.

Led by Muhudu Ward Representative Calystus Ayodi, the MCAs said they were suffering due to the financial crisis the county was facing.

“Vihiga is in the [financial] ICU. We cannot hide this any more. As we resume [from recess], we will see what to do about this,” said Mr Ayodi.

The latest report by the Controller of Budget (CoB) indicates that the county government failed to provide its list of pending bills as required by the law.

DENIED ACCESS

Currently, the county has been denied access to its funds at the County Revenue Fund Account domiciled at the Central Bank of Kenya over failure to settle pending bills.

The CoB said in the 2019/2020 first quarter report that the county should provide a detailed report on pending bills in line with the requirements of Section 166 of the PFM Act, 2012 and the Controller of Budget Act, 2016.

During the protests, one of the contractors, Mr Patrick Imbandu, claimed that some of their property had been auctioned by financial institutions, while some contractors had died from depression.

“We worked in 2014 but haven't been paid. Some contractors have died and others have had their property auctioned,” he said.

He said some contractors used their own money while others took loans from financial institutions to undertake county projects.

In December 2019, Vihiga County Assembly approved Sh450 million in a supplementary budget to pay contractors but the devolved unit is yet to make any payments. 

Governor Ottichilo absolved his administration from blame, saying the county had complied with the directive to pay its pending bills. However, he blamed the National Treasury and CoB for the current financial crisis. 

PENDING BILLS

He said the county Treasury prepared a requisition to enable approval for withdrawal of funds after CoB demanded that the county accompany the same with requisition for eligible pending bills scheduled for payment.

“We did so but, up to now, nothing has been forthcoming," said Dr Ottichilo. 

On Monday, governors met Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’u over the stalemate.

At the same time, CoB has indicted Vihiga County over low absorption of development funds which stands at 0.8 per cent with much of the money going into recurrent expenditure.

Through the first quarter report for 2019/2020, CoB says the county spends Sh673.79 million on recurrent expenditure and a paltry Sh12.81 million on development.

During the same period (between July 1, 2019 and September 30, 2019), the devolved unit collected Sh50 million from local sources, CoB says in the report.

Governor Ottichilo has in the past blamed slow development on the stalemate that followed the passing into law of the Division of Revenue Bill, 2019, sentiments that the Controller of Budget corroborated in the report.

By June 30, 2020, Vihiga is expected to spend Sh1.67 billion (30.1 per cent) on development and Sh3.89 billion (69.9 per cent) on recurrent programmes.