Time flies with great content! Renew in to keep enjoying all our premium content.
Prime
Sh518bn worth of pending bills probed as verification nears end
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi responds to a question from members of the Bunge la Mwananchi and residents during a dialogue session at Swahilipot Hub on March 7, 2025.
The State has so far scrutinised Sh518.7 billion worth of pending bills since 2023, offering hope of payment to dozens of contractors who have for years endured delays in getting their cash.
Treasury disclosed that the amount is for 65,627 bills, but did not give a breakdown of the bills based on the years that they have remained unpaid.
Completion of the scrutiny sets the stage for payment of contractors and boost their finances but others will also miss out on account on fictitious and unverifiable bills.
The State froze payments of the unpaid bills and directed that those to be paid must be cleared by the verification committee.
“Since its inauguration, the Committee has analysed a total of 65,627 pending bills, which are valued at Sh518.7 billion. The analysis of these 14 bills was conducted based on their status, sectors, categories, and recommendations for settlement,” Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi says in a document tabled before Parliament.
The pending bills undergoing scrutiny are for the period between June 1st 2005 to June 30th 2022 with those cleared being eligible for payment.
It however remains unclear on the number of bills and contractors being scrutinised ahead of payments. The number of claimants jumped to 114, 376 as at September last year, up from 94,997 three months earlier.
Mr Mbadi had in October last year revealed that bills worth about Sh200 billion had been rejected on suspicion that they are made up.
Contractors have for years decried the unpaid bills, with many forced to halt expansion plans and freeze hirings amid the cash flow hitches, underling the gravity of the payment delays.
More than three quarters of the bills are held by State corporations with the remainder in the hands of ministries, departments and other entities.
Treasury formed the committee in 2023 and mandated it to scrutinise pending bills worth over Sh600 billion as the State moved in to settle claims and ease cash flow woes for contractors who are yet to be paid despite supplying goods and services to the State years ago.
Besides weeding out fictitious bills, the committee has also been tasked with developing reforms or measures that will help avoid future accumulation of pending bills.
Accumulation of the unpaid bills has gone despite repeated directives by the Treasury to have the State entities prioritise clearance of the dues every financial year.
For example, pending bills held by State entities have jumped by 1,021.7 percent over the last six years from Sh53.49 billion in June 2020.
Besides blatant disregard of the constitution and directives from Treasury by accounting officers of State entities, the rise in stock of pending bills has also been attributed to the pressure facing the Exchequer with a vast chunk of revenues being spent on paying foreign debt.
But the Treasury has sought to allay fears that contractors will wait for longer to get their money amid the huge debt servicing obligations.
“The National Treasury remains committed to ensuring payment of all verified pending bills and expenditure carryovers within a sustainable fiscal framework,” Mr Mbadi added.
