West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo has told the treasury that he will not pay the pending bills clarifying that the former leadership of the county was accompanied with massive corruption as reported by Ktn.
Speaking during the Jamhuri day celebration held in his county at Makutano grounds, the governor said most the projects in the county were not completed as required and a number of them were engulfed with corruption.
West Pokot is one of the counties listed by the treasury as having the pending bills.
The governor wants Cs treasury Ukuru Yatani to apologise for misleading the public.
"The Cs himself is in Nairobi and for the first time, I disagree with him. Why should we pay? There is a difference between contract served and paid served even this paid amount was overpaid, even EACC is in the mix. (CS mwenye ako nairobi kwa mara ya kwanza nimekataa mambo yake kwa nini tusilipe , there is a difference between contract served and paid served even this paid amount was overpaid, sasa hata EACC iko ndani,'') he said.
On Tuesday the CoG Wycliffe Oparanya accused the Treasury of deliberate failure to comply with Section 17( 6 ) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), which requires disbursement to be made by 15th of every month. The county chief said a continuous delay in releasing funds has occasioned nonpayment of salaries to thousands of employees.
This comes about after the treasury blacklisted fifteen counties over the pending bills. Other counties affected are Narok, Machakos, Nairobi, Isiolo, Tana River, Tharaka-Nithi, Bomet, Kirinyaga, Nandi, Mombasa, Kiambu, Garissa, Baringo, Taita Taveta, Turkana, Meru, Samburu, Nakuru, Murang’a Mandera, Marsabit, Trans Nzoia, Kitui, West Pokot, Embu, Wajir and Lamu.