Azimio Issues Another Surprising Ultimatum

Siaya governor James Orengo has directed that all approved pending bills be paid within 48 hours.

This is welcome news and relief to several contractors and suppliers who were engaged by the county government to provide various services and execute development projects.

“I have directed that all audited, approved and validated pending bills be processed for payment within 48 hours,” Orengo said on Wednesday.

The governor further noted that any blockade of any nature to any contractor or supplier should not occur.

Siaya’s pending bills stood at Sh831.98 million last September.

This is according to the County government budget Implementation Review Report for the First Quarter of FY 2022/23 as of September 30 last year.

The pending bills according to the report which was prepared by the controller of budget included Sh373.73 million for recurrent expenditure and Sh458.24 million for development activities.

Three weeks ago, Benedict Omollo who is the finance’s CEC told the county assembly that Sh 500 million has been paid so far but added that the administration plans to clear all the pending bills at the end of the financial year.

The governor also assured Siaya residents that his administration is delving deeply into the issue of a suspense account in one of the banks.

“There is the issue of the suspense account held in one of the banks that we are delving into deeply to ascertain the validity of the findings,” he said.

Orengo said that in April 2023, following a raft of recommendations by the Ouko task force, he appointed three county executive subcommittees to carry out the payroll audit.

The council executive members included Dr Edgar Otumba(Education), George Nyingiro (Public Works and Roads), and Agunda Ochanda(Governance) who were picked by the governor to lead payroll audit vide an Internal audit team.

“It emerged, during the audit that some officers at the Human Resources department and payroll unit were giving themselves promotions unprocedurally,” he said.

” There was also the issue of the suspense account held in one of the banks that we are delving into deeply to ascertain the validity of the findings,” he added.

The governor sought to assure Siaya residents that further investigations are underway to ensure those who were behind the unscrupulous are dealt with firmly within the confines of the law .

The governor told the Star that apart from the payroll audit and the issues of irregular promotions, his administration is also addressing the issue of hiring casuals.

” On Tuesday, my cabinet approved a policy to be adopted and implemented by the county public service board,” Orengo said.