Auditor General Edward Ouko has confirmed that eligible pending bills to be cleared in the Counties stand at around Kshs 35 billion, with at least Kshs 37 billion flagged as ineligible, in what may have led to loss of millions if all the payments were to be made, according to the County reports.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, speaking during the Madaraka day fete, urged the government to clear all pending bills at the national and County level before the end of the 2018/2019 financial year. Plans were set in action, including a meeting between top government officials and some Governors led by Deputy President William Ruto and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya to address the issue, with the leaders agreeing that Kshs 65 billion will be released to clear all pending bills by the end of June.
Speaking at the Kenya Editors luncheon in Nairobi on Tuesday, the auditor general outlined that the controller of budgets had given an original figure, and the Counties had also been asked to reveal what was pending. The figures were verified and the final amount was around Kshs 50 billion, which was trimmed further. “As of the time of my audit, we had about Kshs 40 billion which was eligible pending bills,” he said, “We had Kshs 37 billion which was ineligible.” He clarified that the pending bills figure has since reduced to around Kshs 35 billion.
President Kenyatta had called for verification of the pending bills, and recently, the auditor general had unearthed lots of ineligible pending bills at Counties, amounting to billions with Nairobi County with the highest ineligible pending bills. The figure shows a raft of unscrupulous supplies, contractors, claimants are still problematic in many Counties.