Treasury releases Sh1.3 billion to NMS for pending bills

The long wait is over for contractors and suppliers who did business with City Hall as Treasury releases Sh1.3 billion to the Nairobi Metropolitan Services for payment of pending bills.

This means contractors and suppliers who did business with the Nairobi government in 2018-19 under the four dockets of Health, Transport, Public Works and Planning will soon receive their dues from the NMS.

County  Assembly Finance, Budget and Appropriation committee chairman Robert Mbatia on Friday confirmed that the payment process had commenced. He said irregularities and verification of documents delayed the process.

“Yesterday (Thursday), I met with the Treasury together with NMS and it is confirmed that Sh1.3 billion was released to Major General Badi and his team,” Mbatia said.

“There were also so many irregularities and gaps, thus making the Treasury not to release the money until everything was in order.”

The Budget chairman also took the opportunity to apologise to the small and medium enterprises and contractors for the delay.

“I want to apologise to the SMEs and contractors that were owed money and have been waiting for their money. I want to assure them now we have been promised that payment rollout has started,” Mbatia said.

The funds were said to have come from the Treasury and not the County Revenue Fund. The pending bills of the SMEs and contractors have been an ongoing concern among the MCAs.

In January, Deputy Governor Anne Kananu handed over all contracts to NMS director general Mohammed Badi. This was 10 months after City Hall transferred the management of four key functions to the national government.

Kananu said the amount of the pending bills was arrived at after the National Treasury requested the Office of the Auditor General to undertake a special audit in line with the Public Finance Management Act.

“Nairobi county procures services and goods from different entities. It is expected that payments be honoured according to the contract terms since the accumulation of pending bills had raised concerns in the recent past and put suppliers on the edge,” Kananu said.

Badi pledged to pay the suppliers and contractors.

On Thursday, Minority Whip Peter Imwatok wrote a letter to Badi and Kananu enquiring about the status of the pending bills. He expressed concern that despite President Uhuru Kenyatta’s order for SMEs to be paid to cushion them from the effects of Covid-19, no payment had been done.

“However, up to date, this promise by NMS and the county government has not been fulfilled and SMEs continue to suffer despite funds having been allocated for this purpose,” Imwatok said.

He alleged being fully informed that the county treasury was busy processing payments for established contractors for purposes of seeking kickbacks.

The Makongeni MCA went ahead and demanded the processing of the payments for garbage collection contractors be put on hold so the county treasury and NMS prioritise clearing of all bills owed to SMEs as directed by the President.

The executive had previously been accused of paying millions of shillings to lawyers and garbage collection firms and not the SMEs.

Imwatok threatened to take possible legal measures against all responsible officers from NMS and City Hall on behalf of SMEs if the payments are not made.

“I further demand that within seven days of this letter, a report on the status of these payments be submitted to the officer of the undersigned. Should you fail to provide this update and act as required, I will be instituting legislative and possible legal measures against you and all responsible officers on behalf of SMEs in Nairobi,” he said.

The letter was copied to the Controller of Budget, CEC for Finance, county assembly and Auditor General.

City Hall’s Finance department has been faulted for failing to ensure that pending bills are cleared in the shortest time possible.

As a result, the county assembly last year appealed to NMS to thoroughly scrutinise pending bills.