By Reporter
Suppliers and service providers who hold court decree and are pursuing payment from the county government of Kisumu will have to wait a little longer.
This was after the Controller of Badger (COB) declined to approve legal fees requisition by the county government of Kisumu to pay the court decree.
The COB said the requisition captioned “ The County Treasury requisition for the grant of credit on the recurrent account” failed to comply with the provision of Article 228(3) of the constitution.
In a circular signed by the controller of budget, Dr Margaret Nyakango dated 9th December 2024 said in the interim the request will be held in abeyance awaiting submission of the required document.
In a circular addressed to Chief Officer of Finance Mr. Martin Opiyo Okode read in part “ Reference is made to your request to approve withdrawal of funds REF: KSM/REC/VOLIII(25) dated 12th November 2024 for the sum of Sh 16,945, 345.
It is noted that the requisition does not properly enable this office this office review the request in light of the provision of Article 228(5) of the constitution, which requires you to submit the following documents “
- A narration of the history of each case
- Letter of instruction to the advocate if any
- The decree/order of the court
- A statement on whether the matter has been finalized or is ongoing
- The certificate of costs
- Whether the payments are interim or full payments for each case
These details are articulated in the COB circular for withdrawal requests. in the interim, your requisition will be held in abeyance awaiting submission of the documents.
Chief Officer of Communication and Public Communication Mr. John Oywa said such situations normally occur and the documents required by COB are usually submitted in such a scenario.
“Let me find out with the officer concerned and I will revert with full information on the matter,” Oywa said.
Kisumu County Government owes suppliers and service providers over Sh 2.3b to decree holders.
The delay to pay decree holders culminated in the sentencing of the Chief Officer for Finance by a Kisumu High who served for some days at Kodiaga prisons before the matter was reviewed and later released.
The County Government is yet to pay Sh 2.3b to decree holders in the form of contractors’ certificates, advocates fees and service providers.
The court gave 40 decree holders authority to execute the order between the months of September to November.
During the fiscal year, Kisumu County received a total of KES. 10,142,864,470 in revenue, comprising Own Source Revenue, Grants, and sharable revenue, representing 84% of the revenue target set against budget revised estimates of KES. 12,045,283,582.
When the Kisumu court released a list of pending decrees up for execution, named the various entities owed by the county government to include suppliers, contractors legal firms and traders whose businesses were demolished among others.
A once popular fish-eating point along the Lake Victoria shores whose property was demolished got a court decree for Sh 75M while a consultant firm received a similar amount against the County government of Kisumu and Kisumu City Board for an unfilled contract obligation.
A prominent Kisumu lawyer was allowed to undertake decree enforcement for Sh 115,000,000.
A prominent Kisumu-based law firm is seeking Sh 475,000,000 for advocate and client bills of cost.
