West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo has defended his County over the pending bills situation, saying there is a reason why the pending bills owed by the administration haven’t been cleared. Lonyangapuo castigated acting Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani for releasing the report without getting into the bottom of the matter.
The County boss said that many projects that were undertaken by the former regime were marred by corruption inflation of figures and weren’t completed.
He vowed to go to Court and challenge the report saying the County government won’t pay for anything whose end product isn’t seen. “We can’t pay for anything we have not seen because EACC will come for us,” he said, “EACC and the auditor general will question me if I pay.”
Speaking during the Jamhuri day celebrations in Makutano stadium, Governor Lonyangapuo said the Treasury CS should apologize for the misleading report. “We want him to come out clearly over the report because the projects to be paid for are not genuine,” he said.
He cited the Wemex Commodities Company which was supposed to construct a new Governor’s residence saying it has not been done at a cost of Kshs 120 million. “They want us to pay illegible pending bills amounting to Kshs 55 million,” he noted, “We won’t pay any single cent.”
He called on government officials residing in Nairobi to visit Counties and get the true picture of things on the ground.
Lonyangapuo also name checked Chelelin Contractors at Masol responsible for 4 unit staff houses and pit latrines at Masol intergrated project where Kshs 5.8 million is supposed to be paid. He said this won’t be paid, “The contractor wants the money but he has done nothing but the CS wants us to pay,” he said.
