Report: State agencies owe suppliers Sh36bn

Margaret Nyakango

Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o at a past function. 

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

The national government owed suppliers and contractors Sh36.35 billion in pending bills by the close of 2020/21 Financial Year.

The figure could, however, be higher given that only 17 out of 71 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) submitted information on such debts to the Controller of Budget.

The report indicates that as at June 30, 2021, the agencies and ministries had accumulated Sh35.11 billion from previous financial years and Sh1.24 billion in that year.

The amount is a decrease compared to the Sh53.49 billion cumulative pending bills accumulated by 44 MDAs in a similar period in the 2019/2020 FY when 17 state agencies had no pending bills while 10 failed to submit information.

Cumulatively, among the agencies and ministries, the State Department of Transport has the highest pending bill at Sh6,081,485,056, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) at Sh2,793,944,212 and State Department for Regional and Northern Corridor Department at Sh2,218,189,273.

The Judiciary has unpaid bills totalling Sh93,515,159 while that of the Presidency stands at Sh121,816,988.

Others agencies which reported pending bills in that financial year are Vocational and Technical Training (Sh22,500596), State Department for Labour (Sh 76,535,746), Social Protection, Pensions and Senior Citizens Affair (Sh 2,300,410), Mining (Sh 65,175,775) and Auditor General (Sh4,810,295).

“Accumulation of pending bills by the MDAs affects the overall liquidity in the economy, especially that of the private sector, hence negatively impacting the overall economic growth.

“CoB recommends that all MDAs ensure payment of pending bills is prioritised as a first charge in the FY 2021/22 in compliance with the law to avoid further accumulation of pending bills,” CoB Margaret Nyakang’o says in the report.

MPs have been piling pressure on the National Treasury to stop disbursing money to government agencies and ministries that have not settled all their pending bills.