City Hall on the spot over unexplained sh39.8 billion reduction in pending bills

Queries have been raised by the Controller of Budget (COB) Margret Nyakang’o about Sh39.8 billion mysteriously removed from the Nairobi County’s pending bills register.

While raising serious questions about the authenticity of supplier claims under Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration, Nyakang’o has revealed an unexplained 32.7 per cent reduction in Nairobi’s supplier arrears, which dropped from Sh121.8 billion to Sh86.8 billion over the year ending June 2025.

This dramatic decrease has triggered demands for a detailed explanation from the Auditor-General’s office about how such a massive amount could simply vanish from official records.

The timing of this discovery is particularly concerning as it comes amid widespread complaints from legitimate contractors who continue to wait months or even years for payments from both county and national governments.

According to the CoB, the explanations by Nairobi’s County Executive Committee Member for Finance and Economic Affairs Charles Kerich attempted explanations for the reduction, citing the elimination of “unjustifiably high” legal fees and the removal of a disputed Sh300 million bank loan from the pending bills register.

He also mentioned that the county paid Sh1 billion in outstanding pensions and realigned contingent liabilities related to loans borrowed in the 1980s.

However, these explanations account for only Sh4 billion of the total Sh39.8 billion reduction, leaving a substantial gap that remains unexplained.

The Controller of Budget has made it clear that Nairobi County must provide a comprehensive breakdown to the Auditor-General of how this reconciliation was conducted.

This latest scandal adds to a troubling pattern of financial irregularities at City Hall as a whistleblower recently shared with The Informer media Group that Nairobi City County Executive Committee members and Chief Officers have proxies and companies supplying for the County.

The Sources who sought anonymity complained that the county last paid external suppliers a year ago for a supply they made.

According to the source, the county only prioritizes paying companies attached to the CECs and Chief Officers while the other suppliers are left to suffer on their own.

“All the CECs are suppliers and have their proxies. If you are a supplier or have a proxy in the procurement, will you pay others? You’ll obviously prioritize yourself,” the source revealed.

Before the passing the budget of the current fiscal year the Nairobi City County Assembly passed a supplementary budget seeing suppliers and contractors receive an additional Sh1.26 billion in pending bills payments.

In its report to the Assembly, the Finance, Budget, and Appropriation Committee said the amount is set to reduce the county debt to their creditors.

“To reduce the county debt, an additional Ksh1.26 billion be set aside for payment of other creditors by the debt management department within the finance sector, the report read in part.

This was 1.03 per cent of the total outstanding pending bills of the county which is Ksh 121.06 billion.