Deputy President William Ruto now wants the National Treasury and the Attorney General to consult and come up with a way forward to establish the Sh108 billion ineligible pending bills.
This comes after Auditor General Nancy Gathungu revealed that the counties have a pending bill of Sh152.5 billion.
The bill exceeds the outstanding Sh148.39 billion revenue allocation balance.
Gathungu was speaking during an Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) convened by Ruto at his Karen residence.
She further said that County Assemblies owe Sh2.9 billion in pending bills.
The Council of Governors Vice-Chairman James Ongwae pointed out that counties have only received Sh221.6 billion of the Sh370 billion Equitable Revenue allocation for the 2021/22 Financial Year.
Ongwae added that in the disbursement schedule, Sh87.34 billion is owed.
He said that the amount included Sh8.26 billion that is owed to 11 counties for January allocation and Sh16.20 billion owed to 23 counties for February.
For March allocations, Sh29.6 billion is owed to the 47 counties and Sh33.3 billion is owed to all counties for April allocation.
Last week, senators threatened to stall the approval of the Division of Revenue Bill due to delays to release Sh39.88 billion grants to counties.
However, on Monday the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o said that county governments should blame themselves for the delayed receipt of funds from the National Treasury.
She added that the counties have not been using their previously allocated funds.
Ruto further lauded the counties for working to settle their eligible bills.
He added that there was work needed to address the issue of debts.
"We still need to do more on this sticky issue that is affecting many service providers," he said.
Last Week, Nyakang'o revealed that the counties’ debt stood at Sh128.94 billion as of December 31, 2021.
She advised the county governments to settle their bills before the next financial year.
“The Controller of Budget advises county governments to prioritise spending bills as a first charge in the 2021-22 budget before embarking on new financial commitments,” Nyakang’o said.
