Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has urged County governments which haven’t cleared their pending bills to do so, and shun making excuses. Speaking to the press on Wednesday after a meeting with other officials, including CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge, Acting Treasury CS Ukur Yattani among others, he said the government has all the resources to pay all the bills owed by SMEs in the Counties. “The way sometimes some of our colleagues and fellow leaders talk about this casually they create an impression that the national government or treasury is neither willing nor able to address that issue,” he said.
On December 11th, the National Treasury said it had released Kshs 11,036,355 to 18 Counties who had a clear and acceptable plan for settling of pending bills. Moreover, another disbursement had been made to 12 Counties that had fully cleared their pending bills. The matter has raised concerns among some County leaders, who have criticized the nature of the pending bills, most notably West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo.
However, CS Matiang’i said some of the people who are owed money by the Counties are suppliers of eggs, sand and other material, mostly SMEs, which are now suffering due to pending bills lasting two or three months. “Some Governors don’t want to pay bills because they were incurred during their predecessors time in office, so they want to play politics with the SMEs,” he said. He added that the government will use all lawful means to ensure the Counties that haven’t paid their pending bills do so.