Governor Alfred Mutua’s Machakos County administration was ordered by the High Court to pay Ksh29.7 million outstanding debt to a supplier.
The court also asked that the county pay the balance owed as well as the accrued interest to Iqbal Omar who delivered bulldozers to the county. The contract was worth Ksh260 million.
Machakos County through their defense had pleaded with the court for fairer terms but High Court judge George Odunga stated that they had not presented any concrete evidence against Iqbal Omar’s company.
Initially, the county had agreed to pay the supplier Ksh10 million every month in order to clear the debt. However, the county failed to do so which prompted the court action.
The court also heard that the amount had not been paid since March 11th 2016 when they delivered the equipment to the county.
[caption caption="Alfred Mutua launching fire engines"]
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Shaneebal Limited run by Iqbal Omar was awarded the tender to supply bulldozers when Machakos County was working to improve infrastructure.
In 2016, Mutua’s administration had been accused of not paying other contractors.
In a statement on Jeff Koinange Live TV show on Citizen, he said those were rogue suppliers and he would not pay them.
“I am not even paying soon...how can I pay for work that has not been done?” he asked.
The county by then owed suppliers of several equipment and goods over Ksh2 billion.
In 2017, the then Canbinet Secretary for Sports Hassan Wario stopped the refurbishment of the Machakos Stadium.
The stadium project which would have cost Ksh873 million was put on hold after the CS claimed the funds were being directed to other venues.
“The contract for Machakos Stadium is on hold because when we advertised for the main stadium there was a conractor who was engaged to undertake the work but later the Governor changed the venue so we said the contract was signed for a certain venue. Once you change the venue, the contract changes,” stated Wario.
[caption caption="Governor Alfred Mutua with President Uhuru Kenyatta"]
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