By Valentine Omondi
The excitement and the political storm that marked the candidature of Kisumu Senator Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o for the county gubernatorial seat in 2017 has turned into gnashing of teeth and premium tears.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leadership’s false campaign mantra against the incumbent Jack Ranguma – that Nyong’o would transform the county into Europe – has come a cropper.
Currently, suppliers and residents are in more pain and suffering over unpaid services and lack of development projects.
At the Senate, the pain and suffering of the county was laid bare by the Senators over what they termed as a huge burden of Sh5.9 billion pending bill debt Nyong’o will be passing over to his successor.
Sadly, when Nyong’o took over from Ranguma, the pending bill in his term was only Sh800 million, and funds for payment of the bills had been allocated.
And the Senate Public Accounts Committee Chairman Moses Kajwang’ asked Nyong’o whether he was planning to hand over Sh5.9 billion debt to the next administration.
“Are you planning to hand over Sh5.9 billion debt to the next administration? What is the plan, because these responses, whatever is on paper, is just accounting speak. You close that year with Sh5.9 billion as debt. Whether it is legal fees or whether it is one year old or ten years old, but after 10 years of being in office, would you be handing over Sh5.9 billion as unpaid debt to the next administration?” he asked.
Kajwang’ said there was serious concern over Sh5.9 billion of unpaid pending bills, while the revenue for the year was Sh9 billion, which exceeded the debt-to-revenue ratio capped at 20 percent but was at a high of over 60 percent.
“Do you have a payment plan, and have you submitted it to the Controller of Budget, and to what extent has this debt reduced?” he said.
The senators questioned the sharp rise in pending bills to Sh5.9 billion, demanding a clear strategy on how the county intends to reduce the debt burden.
The committee interrogated Governor Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o and county officials over what it described as a 108 per cent increase in pending bills within a single financial year.
Committee member Senator Tom Ojienda sought an explanation on the county’s debt reduction strategy, asking what measures had been put in place to bring down the growing obligations.
In response, the Finance CEC George Okongo was hard-pressed and found himself at the guillotine over his responses.
Okongo said the increase was largely driven by court decisions requiring the county to settle long-standing claims, including liabilities arising from a consent agreement with the National Housing Corporation.
They also cited poor local revenue performance as a major contributor to the growing debt.
According to the county, a Sh2.5 billion payment plan had been prepared, with Sh1.9 billion already paid, translating to a 76 per cent performance in settling pending bills in the payment plan.
However, senators questioned the credibility of the figures after discovering that many of the supporting schedules had not been aged, making it difficult to determine when the debts arose and whether the reported payments reflected the actual outstanding obligations.
Senator Enoch Wambua demanded a detailed schedule showing the names of creditors and the debts the county claimed had already been settled, but the documents were not produced before the committee.
Kajwang’ faulted the county’s financial statements, saying they had raised more questions than answers.
“Your financial statements are generating a lot of issues and supplementary questions,” Kajwang’ observed, noting that several supporting notes lacked sufficient detail to facilitate proper scrutiny.
The committee further questioned a significant drop in the county’s own-source revenue, with Ojienda seeking explanations over the decline in parking fee collections from about Sh19 million to Sh113,000 and property rates from approximately Sh20 million to Sh6 million.
The hearing also turned to inconsistencies surrounding National Social Security Fund (NSSF) liabilities after a figure of about Sh500 million contained in the county’s financial statements was revised during the session, prompting senators to question the reliability of the documents presented before them.
Okongo further disclosed that the county owes its staff about Sh1.3 billion in unpaid obligations.
Governor Nyong’o acknowledged the concerns raised by senators and assured the committee that the county would address the issues.
“Once we get the report of discussions today, we will sit down and go through what has been discussed today and go to practical work on the questions that have been raised,” Nyong’o said.
The governor maintained that some of the pending bills were inherited from previous administrations, while others resulted from national government policies and court rulings requiring immediate payment.
The committee is expected to continue scrutinising the county’s financial records as it seeks accountability over the management of public resources and settlement of pending bills.
Nyong’o later posted on his social media platforms: “I appeared before the Senate Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Homa Bay Senator Hon. Moses Kajwang’, where the County Executive of Kisumu was invited to provide clarification on matters arising from the Auditor-General’s review of our management of public resources and the performance of our own-source revenue for the Financial Years 2022/23 to 2024/25. We had a constructive engagement underscoring the centrality of oversight in strengthening devolution and promoting sound public financial management. I appreciate the Committee’s guidance and remain committed to addressing the issues they raised comprehensively when we are invited for the subsequent session. Apart from being a constitutional obligation, accountability is a basic principle of democratic governance, and as public servants, we must remain answerable and steadfast in working for the people.”
