NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 18 – Counties’ outstanding pending bills dropped by three percent to Sh176.8 billion in the 2024/2025 fiscal year from Sh181.98 billion in the preceding financial year, new data shows.
The latest Controller of Budget (CoB) County Governments Budget Implementation Review Report attributes the decline to the reconciliation of pending bills in Nairobi County, which fell by Sh39.76 billion during the review period.
However, the CoB data also shows that several counties still held significant outstanding amounts. Nairobi led with Sh86.77 billion in pending bills, followed by Kiambu at Sh7.89 billion and Machakos at Sh6.73 billion.
The report comes against the backdrop of ballooning national government arrears. Kenya’s overall pending bills stood at Sh524.84 billion in the 2024/2025 fiscal year after rising by Sh8.57 billion compared to a similar period in the previous year. These debts included contractor payments, supplier arrears, statutory deductions, and pension obligations, which collectively amounted to Sh516.27 billion.
In June this year, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi announced that the government was stepping up efforts to resolve long-standing pending bills. He revealed that a total of Sh229 billion had been verified and recommended for payment following an extensive review process.
While delivering the 2025/2026 budget estimates in Parliament, Mbadi disclosed that the Pending Bills Verification Committee had received 65,625 claims valued at Sh571.6 billion. Out of this, 57 percen, equivalent to Sh522 billion, had already been analyzed.
On the county side, some devolved units recorded minimal pending bills, highlighting contrasts in financial management across regions. Elgeyo Marakwet, for instance, had pending bills of just Sh12.14 million, while Lamu County recorded Sh32.11 million.
