City Hall sets aside Sh1.2billion to clear pay pending bills claims by suppliers, contractors
The allocation is 1.03 per cent of the total outstanding pending bills, which is Ksh 121.06 billion
Suppliers and contractors will receive an additional Ksh 1.26 billion in pending bills payments from the Nairobi county government following approval of FY 2024-2025 supplementary budget by the County Assembly.
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 is 1.03 per cent of the total outstanding pending bills of the county which is Ksh 121.06 billion.
Recent data from the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o revealed that the Nairobi City County has the highest amount of pending bills amounting to Ksh 121.06 billion, which is 62 per cent of the total pending bills owed by the 47 county governments.
Garissa, Kiambu, Turkana, Machakos, and Mombasa were also listed by the COB as counties struggling with huge pending bills amounting to Ksh 6.07 billion, Ksh 5.09 billion, Ksh 4.78 billion, Ksh 4.42 billion and Ksh 3.93 billion respectively.
The arrears by the counties have caused a lot of frustrations among businesses and individuals who other times take loans to meet the obligations set and rely on the payments for their operational costs.
Essential service delivery in the counties is also threatened by the pending bills.
Last year May, the Senate passed a resolution requiring counties to settle pending bills under Sh1 billion in the last financial year while those exceeding Sh1 billion have up to the end of the current financial year.
Nyakang’o advised county governments to prioritise the settlement of these bills in their upcoming budgets, highlighting the need to clear debts as a first charge under the Public Finance Management (County Governments) Regulations, 2015.
“The county governments should adhere to the Senate resolution communicated through their 9 May 2024 letter, mandating that all verified pending bills be cleared by FY 2024/25,” she advised.
The total pending bills by the 47 counties currently stand at Ksh 149.50 billion in recurrent expenditures and Ksh 44.51 billion in development expenses.
