Reprieve for prison suppliers as State begins to clear pending bills
Principal Secretary for Correctional Services Zainab Hussein.
What you need to know:
- The debt is owed to creditors in 10 regions, with correctional services principal secretary Zeinab Hussein saying the verification was based on documents presented by suppliers.
- To end the spat between suppliers and the department, some dating back to 2009, the government is already disbursing money at the source stations where goods and services were supplied.
The Kenya Prisons Service has started paying Sh5.7 billion pending bills to suppliers after verification of the debts by a multi-agency team appointed by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i in May.
The suppliers are receiving payments based on their clusters. The state department of correctional services has started servicing the historical debts in the North Eastern region cluster.
The Pending Bills Multi-Agency Team (PB-MAT) initiated a review of all the claims between May 20 and May 31 and a total of Sh5,724,820,121 debt was ascertained in the verification exercise.
The debt is owed to creditors in 10 regions, with correctional services principal secretary Zeinab Hussein saying the verification was based on documents presented by suppliers.
To end the spat between suppliers and the department, some dating back to 2009, the government is already disbursing money at the source stations where goods and services were supplied.
Ms Hussein said the Ministry of Interior had sought approval from the Cabinet to pay the sum.
In a press statement, Ms Hussein said Cabinet directed the National Treasury to provide the amount verified to her department for payment.
“Suppliers who have not been paid are requested to exercise patience as the stated department of correctional services proceeds with payments since the exercise involves handling of voluminous payment documents.”
Some of the procedures being followed as the State makes payments includes ensuring that the claims abide by the National Treasury and secretariat pending bills rules.
“Suppliers are hereby informed that the exercise is being conducted transparently, fairly and accountably thus no need for third parties or brokers purporting to assist,” Ms Hussein said.
