National Treasury headquarters in Nairobi.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 25 – Acting Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has assured that the government is committed to clear pending bills amounting to Sh4.2 billion by mid-January 2020.
In a statement issued on Christmas Eve, Yatani said that Sh10.8 billion of the bills have been paid in the last three months.
He pointed out that payments for goods and services procured by the National and County Governments has led to the deterioration of financial positions of businesses, thereby having a negative impact on the economy.
“The National Government has pending bills amounting to Sh58.2 billion out of which Sh43.2 billion comprise of historical/contested bills which are undergoing audit and investigation,” he said.
He revealed that a special audit on counties by the Office of the Auditor-General as of June 30 2018 showed that out of a total Sh88.98 billion pending bills presented for audit, Sh51.2 were reported as payable.
Sh37.7 billion of bills lacked sufficient documentation to support services rendered or work done and therefore were not recommended for payment, he said.
“The amount of eligible pending bills paid as of 18th December 2019 is Sh28.57 billion leaving an outstanding balance of Sh22.71 billion,” the CS said and emphasised that significant resources have been made available to the County Governments to clear pending bills.
“Indeed, as at Monday, 23rd December 2019, the National Treasury has cumulatively released to County Governments Sh112.041 billion as their equitable share of revenue raised nationally and Sh4.08 billion as conditional grants in the FY 2019/2020.”
This amount, he said, represents releases of Equitable Allocations from July to November for all Counties in full.
“Release of December and future allocation will be subject to the Counties submitting returns on payment of pending bills as per plans they submitted to National Treasury and Controller of Budget,” he stated and observed that County Governments have reported that they have established Ineligible pending Bills Resolution Committee in accordance with Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC) resolution of 18th June 2019 to verify and prioritize ineligible pending bills for payment in the financial year 2019/2020.
Suppliers, Contractors and service providers whose bills were classified as ineligible were advised to liaise with these Committees.
