Nairobi — Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has called on Governors to prioritize the payment of pending bills in order to pave way for effective service delivery at the Counties.
Speaking in Mombasa where he officially opened the governor's week-long induction summit on Thursday, Gachagua said pending bills have negatively affected business operations in the country.
"I call on all of you to take action on many challenges that continue to affect our counties. Of key importance is the issue of the pending bills that affect business operation and the private sector. I further want to encourage all counties and especially those with new leadership to conduct an internal audit of their pending bills," Rigathi said.
"I also emphasize the need to ensure that verified bills must be budgeted for and plan of action presented to both the Controller of Budget and the Office of the Auditor General to facilitate further action."
A review of the first-half financial year 2021/2022 County Governments Budget Implementation Report, revealed county governments failed to settle pending bills despite preparing a payment plan to settle all bills at the beginning of 2021/22 financial year.
The report revealed outstanding pending bills stood at Sh128.94 billion as of December 31, 2021.
Nairobi, Kiambu, Mombasa, Wajir, Machakos and Tana River were among counties with the highest level of pending bills at Sh84.01 billion, Sh5.12 billion, Sh4.29 billion, Sh3.82 billion, Sh2.80 billion and Sh2.41 billion respectively.
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He further assured that the Kenya Kwanza administration will ensure that Counties receive their shareable revenue on time to facility smooth service delivery to their constituents.
"I wish to restate our commitment as a government to ensure that County Governments receive their share of revenue in a timely manner because it is unconditional and critical in giving counties substantial autonomy in decision making." DP Gachagua said.
County governments were allocated Sh370 billion as equitable share in the financial year 2022/2023.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary during budget reading in May this year said the figure represented a 27.3 percent increase from the most recent audited revenue.
Yatani said counties will also receive Sh37.1bn as conditional allocation with total allocation being Sh407bn.
Further, County Governments were allocated Sh7.1 billion under the Equalization Fund in 2022/2023, which targets 14 marginalized counties.
County Governments have always decried slow disbursement of the funds from the National Government a move they say affects smooth delivery of services.
Gachagua appealed to the governors to work as a team regardless of their political affiliations adding that the national government is determined to support the devolved units.
The induction summit will mark the first time the county bosses are meeting following the August 9 general election where 28 new Governors were elected into the office, 8 pioneer Governors made a comeback and 11 were re-elected.
