•There were no supporting documents such as contract documents to substantiate the authenticity of the remaining bills.
•Often, unscrupulous county staff have been accused of colluding to defraud the county through fictitious pending bills.
Image: WILLIAM RUTO/TWITTER
County suppliers and contractors now stare at a bleak future after Auditor General Nancy Gathungu declared Sh107 billion pending bills ineligible.
In the revelation, the auditor established that bills were not supported.
Deputy President William Ruto disclosed the revelations after chairing the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council on Tuesday.
“The auditor general has determined that Sh107 billion is not payable. That is a colossal amount of money and many people are affected,” he said.
Gathungu said out of Sh153 billion pending bills declared by the county governments, only Sh45.5 billion were proven free for payments.
There were no supporting documents such as contract documents to substantiate the authenticity of the remaining bills.
Often, unscrupulous county staff have been accused of colluding to defraud the county through fictitious pending bills.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o partly blamed the contractors for the problem.
“Our suppliers need to be careful and ensure their documentation is proper even as they are given work by the counties,” she said.
IBEC directed the National Treasury to consult the office of Attorney General Paul Kihara to determine the fate of the ineligible debt.
“We have recommended that the National treasury consults on the way forward on the Sh107 billion ineligible pending bills so that a new order can be found to determine what happens,” the DP said.
According to the COB’s report on budget implementation review for the first half of the 2021-22 financial year, Nairobi, Kiambu, Mombasa, Wajir, Machakos and Tana River account for the biggest chunk of the bills.
Nairobi’s debt increased to Sh84.01 billion from Sh54.32 billion in June last year, Kiambu’s stood at Sh5.12 billion, Mombasa’s at Sh4.29 billion and Wajir's at Sh3.82 billion.
Machakos has accumulated Sh2.80 billion in pending bills with Tana River yet to clear Sh2.41 billion.
The DP said the counties have been asked to prioritise the payment of the bills as a first charge to clear the debt and avoid an accumulation of more.
“We have issued instructions that pending bills be paid on a first-in, first-out basis so that the older pending bills are sorted first,” he said.
“We have agreed that the National Treasury working with the Attorney General’s office to work out a mechanism that will enable us to have a predetermine mechanisms that will help us sort out these bills.”
IBEC also asked the devolved units to make realistic projections in their source revenue collections to avoid huge budget deficits that leave room for pending bills.
“We have also instructed counties to avoid own source revenue projections that are unrealistic,” Ruto said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris