Counties’ pending bills rise to Sh158bn
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o during an interview at her office in September last year.
Six counties account for more than two-thirds of pending bills owed to suppliers and contractors, with Nairobi alone grappling with Sh100.36 billion in outstanding bills.
According to the latest report by the Controller of Budget, the 47 devolved units have total pending bills amounting to Sh158.80 billion. This comprises Sh157.18 billion by the county executives and Sh1.63 billion by the county assemblies as of February 2023.
Appearing before the Senate Committee on Devolution chaired by Wajir Senator Mohamed Abbas, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o said the outstanding debts have grown from Sh153 billion in the previous financial year.
She explained that apart from Nairobi, which accounts for the lion’s share of the pending bills at 63.2 per cent, other counties with high pending bills are Wajir at Sh5.50 billion, Kiambu (Sh4.98 billion), Mombasa (Sh4.97 billion), Machakos (Sh2.88 billion) and Murang’a (Sh2.75 billion).
Other counties with more than Sh1 billion in pending bills include Mandera (Sh2.12 billion), Turkana (Sh2.1 billion), Kajiado (Sh2 billion), Kisumu (Sh1.67 billion), Busia (Sh1.66 billion), Kitui (Sh1.43 billion), Narok (Sh1.29 billion), and Garissa (Sh1.28 billion).
On the flip side, six county executives have pending bills below Sh200 million. They include Elgeyo-Marakwet with a paltry Sh14.3 million, Lamu (Sh40 million), Baringo (Sh141.6 million), Nyamira (Sh107 million), West Pokot (Sh132 million) and Nyeri (Sh193 million).
For the county assemblies, the pending bills are below Sh300 million with most at less than Sh100 million, save for Marsabit at Sh298.5 million, Nairobi at Sh200 million and Kwale at Sh173 million. Some 19 county assemblies have a clean bill of health as far as the issue of the pending bill is concerned.
Dr Nyakang’o expressed concerns over the ballooning of outstanding bills despite a commitment by the counties to clear them. She explained that in the financial year ending June 2020, a report by the Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu indicated that the pending bills stood at Sh155.5 billion. However, only Sh47.49 billion was eligible for payment.
“The following financial year, the county governments self-reported additional unaudited outstanding pending bills of Sh96.01 billion as of June 2021,” said Dr Nyakang’o.
She added that her office wrote to all 47 county governments to finalise the verification process and submit a pending bills report with the payment plan for implementation and monitoring.
Although many counties formed internal committees to verify the pending bills following the change in the administration in the counties after the August 2022 General Election, only 12 counties have submitted reports from the verification process.
The 12 devolved units are Lamu, Vihiga, Uasin Gishu, Murang’a, Machakos, Siaya, Kakamega, Kwale, Turkana, Laikipia, Nyamira and Kitui.
