City Hall suppliers to wait longer on Sh3bn pending bills budget

Monday, June 22, 2020 0:01

By COLLINS OMULO

City Hall in Nairobi.

FILE PHOTO | NMG 

City Hall has allocated a paltry Sh3 billion towards settling its eligible pending bills in the financial year ending June 30, 2021, even as the debt soars having risen by more than Sh6 billion in only a year.

The growing burden, according to the City Hall debt management strategy paper tabled before the Nairobi County Assembly on Tuesday, is due to non-remittance of statutory deductions, non-payment of suppliers and legal contractors and related penalties.

City Hall’s eligible pending bills currently stand at Sh6.56 billion despite the National Treasury directive to counties to have settled debt by last year.

He said the journey to containing the ever-increasing pending bills remains a tough one although the county intends to enhance verification of arrears, increase budgetary allocations for pending bills, comply with the law and improve the capacity of the legal services department to deal with the debt burden.