The Pending Bills Verification Committee led by Edward Ouko has received 94,997 pending bill claims valued at KSh 662.3 billion.
- •The Committee, which was inaugurated in November last year, is carrying out a thorough analysis of all stock of pending bills for the period 1st July 2005 to 30th June 2022, and formulating measures to stop accumulation of the bills.
- •The Committee is expected to submit a report by October 2024 for implementation within the fiscal framework.
- •The Mandate of the Committee involves establishing a clearly defined criteria for detailed examination of and analysis of such pending bills or claims with a view to determining the genuineness of each or otherwise, make recommendations to the National Treasury on the necessary actions to be taken for satisfactory disposal or settlement of identified pending bills or claims.
Other roles are to identify any cases where there may have been corrupt, fraudulent and false claims against the Government and make appropriate recommendations to the relevant Government agencies, develop reforms or measures that will ensure future accumulation of pending bills is avoided; and perform any other function incidental to the foregoing.
“Analysis of the pending bill claims submitted by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) is ongoing. The general public has also been given an opportunity to submit any pending bill claims owed by the National Government,” Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u said.
It is estimated that the National Government owes its suppliers, mostly small and medium-sized enterprises, more than KSh 600 billion.
While presiding over the inauguration of the committee last year, President William Ruto said genuine public sector pending bills will be the first items to be charged in the Government budget.
“We must restore confidence in the people who do business with the Government by paying them in time, the move will stimulate economic revival by pumping back the much-needed capital in production” he said.
Counties Debt
Senators are also pushing counties to pay businesses debts estimated at KSh 156 billion before the end of 2023/24 financial year.
The County Government’s Budget Implementation Review Report for the first half of 2023/24 financial year indicate that County Governments had accumulated a total of KSh 156.34 billion in pending bills as of December 31, 2023.
With debts to the tune of KSh 107 billion, Nairobi County had accumulated the largest share followed by Kiambu and Mombasa Counties at KSh 5.7 billion and KSh 3.9 billion, respectively.
Machakos County owes suppliers about KSh3 billion just like Mandera County. Busia County (KSh 2.2 billion), Embu County (KSh1.9 billion), Laikipia County (KSh 1.7 billion), Wajir County (KSh1.6 billion) as some of the figures that had been verified at December 31, 2023.
Kisumu County owes KSh 1.6 billion; Tana River County (KSh1.6 billion). Nakuru, Turkana, Kakamega and Narok Counties owe suppliers and contractors KSh 1.4 billion. Kajiado and Kilifi Counties owe suppliers KSh 1.3 billion, Kisii county KSh 1.2 billion, Vihiga, Bungoma Counties KSh 1.1 billion, Trans-Nzoia and Migori County KSh 1 billion, Homa Bay County KSh 921 million, and Taita-Taveta KSh 791 million.
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