County governments yet to clear Sh19.71 billion pending bills

In Summary

• The CS said as at June 2018, a total of Sh88.98 billion pending bills were presented for audit to the office of the Auditor General.

Treasury CS Ukur Yatani.
Treasury CS Ukur Yatani.
Image: FILE

The national Treasury has released more than Sh151 billion to the county governments to clear their pending bills.

Treasury CS Ukur Yatani in a statement on Friday said since July 2019, significant resources had been made available to the county governments to enable them to clear the pending bills.

Yatani said as at February 14, the national Treasury had released Sh151.47 billion as their equitable share of revenue raised nationally and Sh8.09 billion as conditional grants.

 

The CS said as at June 2018, a total of Sh88.98 billion pending bills were presented for audit to the office of the Auditor General.

"Bills amounting to Sh51.2 billion, an equivalent to 58 per cent were reported as payable while Sh37.7 billion lacked sufficient documentation to support services rendered or work done therefore were not recommended for payment," he said.

According to Yatani by February 10, pending bills worth Sh31.58 billion had been paid leaving an outstanding balance of Sh19.71 billion.

Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Embu, Homa Bay, Kajiado, Kericho, Kilifi, Kitui, Kwale, Laikipia, Makueni, Nyamira, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Uasin Gishu and Lamu counties have cleared all their eligible pending bills.

Yatani said Kisii, Murang'a, Kakamega, Bungoma, Machakos, Trans Nzoia, Tana River, Taita Taveta and Nakuru counties have made substantial payments of settling the balance by March 2020.

Busia, Mombasa, Tharaka-Nithi, Kisumu, Kiambu, Marsabit and Nandi counties, on the other hand, have given payment proposals indicating that they will clear all their bills by the end of June 2020.

"Turkana, Garissa, Wajir, Narok, Nairobi, West Pokot, Siaya, Kiruinyaga, Bomet, Isiolo, Mandera, Samburu, Migori and Vihiga counties have been requested to revise their initial payment plans. They also undertook to review their budgets through a supplementary to provide for the said amount," read part of the statement.

 

With regards to payment of pending bills by the national government ministries, departments and agencies, Yatani said the government had accumulated a total of Sh58.2 billion, out of which Sh43.2 billion comprised historical/ contested bills whose audit and investigation process has been completed by a multi-agency team chaired by the national treasury.

"Of the eligible bills of Sh15 billion, a total of Sh12.5 billion have been paid by various MDAs in the last four months. The affected national government departments are now in the process of revising their budgets to settle the remaining Sh2.5 billion by March 31," Yatani said.

Yatani said the ministry is closely monitoring the progress of payment of the pending bills on a daily basis to ensure that the directive of Cabinet is implemented and the matter brought to a logical conclusion.

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