Homa Bay County official pledges to pay contractors Sh480 million pending bills

Members of Homa Bay County Contractors Association were addressing journalists in the county government headquarters. (James Omoro, Standard)

Homa Bay County Government has initiated talks with contractors over the payment of the pending bills amounting to Sh480 million.

Yesterday, the Homa Bay County Contractors Association (HBCCA) said it has also shelved its plans to hold protests to give the dialogue a chance.

HBCCA chair Kennedy Aloso said the County Executive Member for Finance, Solomon Obiero, promised to pay them as soon as the county has received money from the National Treasury.

"We have decided to explore this matter through dialogue. The CEM has told us that they have money which they are going to pay us by the end of this week," Aloso said.

Aloso expressed hope that the CECM will keep his promise on the payment. "The CECM said he could not meet us in person because he fell sick, but we are going to receive our pay," he added.

Peter Brown, the association's organising secretary, appealed for consistency in the promise to enhance peaceful co-existence between the contractors and the county government.

"We expect the CECM to keep his promise so that we have good relations between contractors and the county government," Brown said.

Florence Momanyi, a member, said some of them were languishing in debt after borrowing from financial institutions to do their work. She said it was prudent for the county to pay them.

"We are not in any war with the county government, but our desire is to get paid because most of us are undergoing financial difficulties. We are not disputing the CECM's promise," Momanyi said.

The contractors are demanding the debt that has accrued from the work they did from 2013, during former Governor Cyprian Awiti's regime, until this year.