Garissa Governor Ali Korane has said President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive on the government honouring its pending bills by the end of the month is not possible.
Korane said the county has a huge debt amounting to Sh4 billion which is owed to contractors and other service providers.
Speaking to the press after Idd prayers in Garissa, the governor said the county government inherited the debt from the previous administration and they cannot comply with the president’s directive.
He said despite the pending bills from the previous regime, there is no infrastructure raising questions on how the money was spent.
Korane who said there is a need for a fresh audit on the huge debt added that his administration does not have much money to pay off the debt that is 50 per cent of the county’s total budget.
“It is for this reason that we set up a task force to verify these bills. A similar task force was set up by the national government but we are yet to receive their report.”
“With less than a month left it is practically impossible to verify the projects and start paying the contractors as directed by the president,” said Korane.
The governor said the county task force needs to be re-activated to provide proof of whatever services rendered, projects implemented fully and their quality.
He said the task force was suspended after the national government took charge of the exercise but no report has been sent to them.
Korane who promised to pay genuine contractors said initial reports by the county task force had revealed that over 80 per cent of the projects in the county could not be verified.
President Kenyatta during Madaraka Day ordered the national and county governments to clear all pending bills by June 30, this year.