The government announced on Wednesday the National Treasury had sent counties cash to clear pending bills.
In her annual report for 2017-18, the Controller of Budget had indicated the outstanding pending bills in the counties stood at Sh108.41 billion as at June 2018.
A special report by the Auditor General in July showed that Sh51.28 billion out of Sh108.41 pending bills in counties are genuine and worth being settled.
Failure by the 47 counties to settle pending bills has caused suffering to many suppliers and forced some to shut business after their properties were auctioned.
The delay has further caused liquidly problems in the market with many companies laying off staff.
The refusal by some governors to clear pending bills on account they are suspicious is unacceptable because the Auditor General already cleared those that are not fictitious.
Governors should pay those cleared instead of punishing genuine suppliers who have committed no wrong.
Some governors have refused to pay the bills because they were incurred during their predecessors' tenures. This is also wrong because successive governments must respect commitments made by any government.
The county chiefs should clear pending bills and stop playing politics with the lives and livelihoods of Kenyans.
