Contractors storm Embu County Assembly over pay

Contractors and suppliers on Wednesday stormed the Embu County Assembly demanding answers as to why the county government has not paid them their dues amounting to Sh400 million.

They contractors gave the Embu County Government one week ultimatum to pay their debts or face mass protests and a complete lockdown of operations and businesses in Embu town.

James Kugoca, the chairman of the contractors association said that the county executive has not paid them their money for the last one year saying the county executives have been blaming the assembly for refusing to pass the budget.

Kugoca noted that there has been counter-accusations between the executive and the assembly over who should shoulder the blame over the delay in the release of the funds, saying that they have been caught suffering at the middle.

“We have decided that enough is enough, we have given them one week to solve their issues and pay us, otherwise we are going to hold the county hostage,” said Kugoca.

“We will make sure nothing happens in this county, we are going to block all roads entering and leaving Embu,” he said.

Peter Muriithi, another contractor said that there seem to be a tussle between the Governor and the Speaker of the County Assembly which has creating confusion over payment.

“We will protest even if it is for a year if our money is not be released,” he added

However, Embu County Assembly Speaker Kariuki Mate said that the assembly will not discuss or even pass the supplementary budget until a case filed at the Embu High court stopping the construction of a Sh 335 million Assembly Complex is withdrawn, heard or determined.

He stressed that Embu has one main budget yet it is the supplementary budget that contains the funds for the construction of the Complex.

The court had issued an order to bar the discussion of the complex budget terming it untimely.

This comes after MCAs in Embu last month accused of falsifying attendance to earn allowances.

The MCAs were accused of faking attendance by just appearing at the chambers and signing the attendance form in order to get allowances without actually participating in the session.

The speaker of Embu County Assembly said that the tendency amounted to fraud since it ensured the MCAs get allowances illegally.

The county assembly later resolved that only those who participate in debates would be able to earn a sitting allowance.

The assembly has previously been on the spot for holding sessions that sometimes last for less than two minutes with members still getting paid allowances for such appearances.

In a bid to deal with the issue, several county assemblies across the country have installed Biometric Identification Systems where MCAs use their thumbs to clock in and take at least 30 minutes to clock out.