County governments have for a long time been grappling with the issue of delay in salary payment occasioned by unpredictable disbursement of funds by the National Treasury.
However the Vihiga county government has become an exception after entering a deal with Equity Bank Mbale branch to ensure timely payment of the workers dues.
The acting County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Finance and Economic planning Alfred Indeche said the deal would see the bank effect the pay for the county employees immediately upon the receipt of the pay roll from the county.
Indeche explained that the bank would then be reimbursed the monies after the county gets its shareable revenue from the national government.
The CECM disclosed that they are struggling to clear pending bills which now stand at Sh318 million by the end of this financial year.
He said they inherited Sh2.2 billion debt in pending bills but they have managed to pay about Sh1.9 billion in the past four years.
“The servicing of the bills has impeded the implementation of development projects in various sectors of the county economy,” he noted.
He stated that they have been unable to budget for and implement development programmes they had planned in the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) of 2018-2022 due to the debts.