Alfred Mutua on the spot over Sh2.8 billion in debts

A Senate team has put Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua on the spot over Sh2.8 billion in pending bills, with senators expressing fears that successive governments may inherit huge debts.

The senators on Wednesday said Dr Mutua was unable to produce receipts to show how he arrived at a lesser figure for the outstanding debts.

"The governor says it is not Sh2.8 billion but Sh400 million. Anybody can generate figures. We need names of companies and contracts that led to the pending bills," Boni Khalwale (Kakamega) said.

The governor, who was accompanied by a large delegation that included former Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile, appeared before the Senate's County Public Accounts and Investments Committee in Nairobi.

EVIDENCE

The senators challenged Dr Mutua to show evidence that the contractors owed money were paid.

"This is a very serious issue. We might put up advertisements and invite contractors owed money to come and confirm," Dr Khalwale said.

Martha Wangari (nominated) said governors with outstanding debts must be held responsible to save counties from liabilities.

"We are headed to an election. New county governments will inherit huge figures to deal with," Ms Wangari said.

DEBT REGISTER

John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot), who chaired the session, regretted that some county executives were obsessed with issuing contracts without following the law and accused county assemblies of approving them.

The senators faulted Dr Mutua for refusing to produce a register that shows the county's debts.

"You have a register of pending bills. Why will you need more than two hours to produce that?" Dr Khalwale asked.

Mong'are Okong'o (Nyamira) questioned why Dr Mutua was behaving as if the audit queries for the 2013/14 financial year were new to him.