The Meru government owes litigants more than Sh649 million in compensation awarded by courts for various cases of breach of contract.
This includes Sh530 million awarded to French hotelier Michel Dechauffour in 2019 after he was illegally evicted from Leopard Rock hotel owned by Meru County, within the Meru National Park.
The county is also battling more than 790 court cases, including 208 suits inherited from the defunct local government.
This emerged during the Meru County government’s first televised accountability forum on Sunday night where members of the Executive were required to explain the state of their departments and development agenda.
Each of the county executive committee members was required to lay bare their programmes and expenditure in what Governor Kawira Mwangaza said would enhance accountability, transparency and responsiveness.
Public Service and Legal Affairs executive Dickson Munene said most of the court cases revolved around land disputes, breach of contract and pending bills.
“The most significant case is the one involving Leopard Rock Hotel. It is unfortunate that we cannot appeal the decision. We are now looking into ways of talking to the investor to forego the accruing interest which currently stands at Sh191 million.
The county government is also looking into ways of reviving the hotel so that there is revenue to compensate for the payout,” Mr Munene said.
It emerged that the county government was struggling to pay the court awards due to a budgetary deficit of more than Sh500 million.
Finance executive Monica Kathono said the national exchequer currently owes Meru County Sh3.2 billion in delayed disbursements.
“The county should have received Sh8.4 billion from the exchequer but only Sh5.2 billion has been received to date. We also found a budget that did not provide for salaries of three months. We have been forced to raise Sh561 million through budget cuts to cater for salaries. We do not have money to pay June salaries,” Ms Kathono said.
According to the finance executive, the county government has so far collected 452 million from business charges, hospital collections and income by other institutions.
On perennial drug shortages in hospitals, health chief officer Joseph Wahome said the county needs to allocate about Sh1 billion annually to resolve the shortages.
“Our assessment has shown that our annual drugs and non-pharmaceutical supplies needs are worth about Sh1 billion. However, we are spending about Sh170 million on drugs and non-pharmaceuticals worth. We need to raise the amount to at least Sh400 million,” Dr Wahome said.
Ms Mwangaza said the televised forums to be held monthly are aimed at keeping the executive members on their toes in service delivery.
“As governor, I am accountable for use of all county resources. Therefore, I must ensure accountability and proper use of resources in Meru,” Ms Mwangaza said.
She said in the last eight months, her administration had prioritised recovery of government property, enhancing cleanliness and order in towns and increasing water provision in the county.
