Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya wants the Office of the Auditor General to carry out an audit of the Sh 400 million pending bills he inherited from his predecessor, Patrick Khaemba.
Governor Natembeya stated that his administration wants to ensure that payments are only made for genuine works and supplies to guarantee value for money.
"We have set aside Sh 190 million to pay some of the bills in the current financial year, but we want to enlist the help of the Auditor General to ascertain the actual pending bill," said Governor Natembeya.
The Governor spoke at the Kitale National Museum in a meeting with contractors where they raised complaints about delays in payments.
"All we want is to be paid for services we rendered to the county government. Some of us incurred loans to finance our works, putting our properties used as collateral on the line," said Mr. Peter Ouma' the secretary of contractors.
Natembeya also insisted that contractors who flouted procurement procedures will not be paid, saying it amounts to fraud.
"High-level integrity must be observed in the procurement process, and cases of compromise will not be condoned at all," he said.
The Governor stated that the administration intends to manage its finances by only offering contracts within the budget's limits.
"We also want to start paying contractors quarterly so that we do away with this habit of having ballooned pending bills," said the Governor.
He condemned cases of corruption where some contractors collude with procurement officers to manipulate tendering processes in their favour.
"We want an end to these cases of contractors having to bribe procurement officers in order to win contracts. We want the process to be done competitively," noted the Governor.
The county boss also said his administration will widen the scope of procurement to ensure more contractors access government procurement opportunities.