The National Treasury has confirmed an additional Sh43.5 billion has disbursed to county governments.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has insisted that counties should prioritise payment of pending bills owed to their suppliers and their statutory dues.
The additional transfer clears dues owed to the county governments up to April this year.
“The National Treasury and Planning (NTP) wishes to confirm that an additional KES 43.5 billion was released to County Governments on Tuesday 22nd June, 2021, thereby clearing dues up to April 2021,” said Yatani.
According to Yatani, the payment of these pending bills will be closely monitored and future transfers weighed against the fulfilment of this important obligation to the private sector, so as to spur economic activity at the county level as part of their ongoing and inclusive Economic Recovery Programme.
Last week, the Treasury has said that it will disburse Sh39 billion to the county governments in a weeks time after Council of Governors (CoG) threatened that counties will shut down by June 24.
The governors claimed that the Treasury had not only failed to comply with the Constitution, but also with its own document- cash disbursement schedule, 2020, stating that some counties like Nairobi, has not received cash for up to six months now.
While presenting the Budget for the year 2021-2022 before the National Assembly, Yatani gave government agencies 20 days to clear pending bills.
To enforce compliance, Treasury said that it will stop the transfer of cash to agencies that will not comply with the directive.
