•Treasury has warned counties will not receive money until they clear arrears
•Ward reps tell Sonko to clear the pending bills to avoid disruption of services
Image: MAUREEN KINYANJUI
Members of the Nairobi county assembly want Governor Mike Sonko to clarify the status of the county's pending bills.
They have asked Sonko to state the exact amount of money City Hall owes contractors and suppliers.
Nairobi is among 15 counties flagged by acting Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani over unpaid arrears.
The counties risk losing out on cash transfers from the national government over failure to pay pending bills, Yatani said last week.
The others are Baringo, Garissa, Kiambu, Mombasa, Nandi, Kirinyaga , Bomet, Tharaka-Nithi, Migori, Tana River, Isiolo, Vihiga , Machakos and Narok.
Yatani directed that all eligible pending bills totaling to Sh51.2 billion be paid before next month.
Nairobi ward reps on Wednesday called upon the governor to clear the pending bills to avoid disruption of services.
Ngei MCA Redson Otieno wondered whether City Hall was engaged in favoritism, which might be the reason Sonko's administration was not coming out clearly on who had been paid and who had not.
Otieno said "games" were being played, with some contractors paid within a month of raising a claim while others went without pay for months or even years.
"Back in my ward there is a contractor who raised a certificate worth Sh2.5 million since August last year but has not been paid. But he raised another one in November and was paid the next month. How is this possible?" Otieno said.
"We need to be told the number of contractors and suppliers, how much is owed to them, how much was paid as well as those have not been paid."
Otieno's counterpart from Zimmerman Pius Mbono said the county should clear all pending bills in order not to paralyse projects that are in progress.
"The executive should move with speed to pay the contractors and suppliers so that others can take county jobs knowing that after completion of the contracts they will earn their pay," Mbono said.'
But the county executive says they are unable to clear the bills because they have not received money from Treasury.
Acting county secretary Leboo Mornitat said Treasury owes City Hall over Sh60 billion .
He also said the county had paid over Sh10 billion of its debt and the National Treasury had no reason to withhold any disbursement to them.
"As much as we agree that we still have uncleared debts owed to contractors and suppliers, as a county we are also owed over Sh300 billion with the national government owing us over Sh60 billion" he said.
In June 2019, through a supplementary budget , Sh4 billion was set aside to settle part of the county's pending bills amounting to Sh5.32 billion that was arrived at by an audit committee .
The committee arrived at the figure after verifying Sh22.7 billion disputed debts.
The county owes suppliers, contractors and lawyers Sh10.6 billion; workers are owed Sh30.13 billion in unpaid statutory deductions; banks Sh3 billion; Kenya Power Sh640 million and retired and deceased staff Sh134 million.