Kisii county contractors association was up in arms against governor Simba Arati for non-payment of projects executed six months into office.
The association’s officials gave the governor seven days within which he should effect the overdue payments or face protracted protests.
This comes immediately on an indictment by the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyarang’o over the new governors’, (Arati included) poor spending of funds disbursed to their counties.
Michelle Okemwa, the association’s treasurer, accused Arati of thrashing a memorandum of understanding signed with him ahead of last year’s general elections.
The MOU had obligated Arati to settle pending bills for the contractors upon romping into victory.
Three-point nine billion shillings, claimed the treasurer, was released to the county to be spent on the pending bills among other recurrent commitments, which was never to be.
According the laws governing disbursement of the funds,Arati had ignored to commit two thirds of the allocation on recurrent expenditure and reserve the remaining one third for development.
The secretary general, Hoffman Ondieki, claimed the governor had failed to honour his election campaign promise of helping area residents and instead was bent on inflicting more misery on them.
Contractors borrowed money to undertake the projects whose returns were not forthcoming.
Bernard Nyaora, a member criticized the governor for not assisting needy children to join form one unlike his counterparts elsewhere in the country.
He challenged him to prove his capacity to deliver on his mandate.
BY MUSA MARANGA