Delays by Treasury hindering bills clearance, governors say
Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa addresses journalists in Nakuru County on February 10.
County governments are yet to clear outstanding pending bills amounting to Sh92 billion due to delays by the National Treasury to disburse the equitable share of revenue to the devolved units.
Council of Governors Finance committee chairman Fernandes Barasa, who is also the Kakamega County governor, said the pending bills had contributed to poor delivery of services in the counties.
Mr Barasa said timely and predictable disbursement of the funds would help resolve the perennial problem of pending bill. He said the delayed disbursement was contrary to provisions of the law that require them to disburse the money not later than the 15th day of each month.
“The last disbursement to counties was made in December and some counties are yet to receive the allocation for the month of November,” said Mr Barasa.
According to the governor, all counties have not received disbursements for December amounting to Sh29 billion, January (Sh31 billion) and February (Sh29 billion).
“We had a conversation with the President and his deputy about priority being given to debts ... ” said Mr Barasa.
Despite the delays by Treasury, Mr Barasa said he had settled a total Sh1.1 billion out of the Sh1.3 billion of pending bills in Kakamega. Promising to settle the balance in the next two months, the county chief appealed to creditors who are yet to be paid to remain patient.
“Once we clear the current pending bills, it will not be a cyclic problem in the next financial years,” he said.
Mr Barasa said it was regrettable that suppliers and contractors were incurring huge losses after delivering goods and services to the county governments and not getting paid on time, leaving them in the hands of auctioneers.
