Huge pending bills big headache for Nyanza governors, says report

In her report, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o flagged Kisumu's pending bills and stated that some Sh189 million was available in the County Revenue Fund. [David Njaaga, Standard]

A new report by the Controller of Budget has painted a gloomy picture on the status of pending bills in all the six counties in Nyanza during the first quarter of the 2022/2023 financial year.

Save for Nyamira, which paid contractors nearly half of the money it owed in pending bills, Kisumu, Kisii, Migori, Homa Bay and Siaya did not make any significant payments to offset their pending bills.

The County Governments Budget Implementation Review Report for the First Quarter of Fy 2022/23 indicates that as at September 30 last year, Kisumu had pending bills amounting to Sh1.94 billion.

The amounts included Sh1.92 billion for development activities as well as Sh39.49 million for recurrent expenditure. The report covers the period between July 2022 and September 2022.

The devolved unit is among those that have been struggling to offset pending bills and has been under intense pressure from contractors who claim their lives has been disrupted by the county's failure to pay them.

In her report, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o flagged Kisumu's pending bills and stated that some Sh189 million was available in the County Revenue Fund (CRF).

At the beginning of the financial year, the county reported pending bills at Sh1.96 billion. However, within the first three months, only a paltry Sh17.9 million was settled.

But Kisumu is not alone. Siaya Governor James Orengo's administration did not settle any pending bills within the first quarter of the financial year.

Financial malpractice

The governor was keen to deal with claims of financial malpractices inherited from the former regime. He has focused his attention on cleaning the finance department.

With the first quarter, however, Siaya was among the counties struggling with soaring pending bills owed to various contractors and service providers.

Siaya's pending bills stood at Sh831.98 million. The pending bills included Sh373.73 million for recurrent expenditure and Sh458.24 million for development activities.

"During the period under review, no pending bills were settled," said Nyakang'o.

In Homa Bay, all eyes are on governor Gladys Wanga on how she intends to address the monstrous pending bills she inherited from former governor Cyprian Awiti's administrations.

Statistics from the Office Of The Controller of Budget indicate that the county had pending bills amounting to Sh882.33 million.

Although the devolved unit had about Sh463 million in its CRF account, it failed to reduce part of its pending bills. Wanga's administration is, however, optimistic that it is in the right trajectory in efforts to address most of the woes they have inherited from the previous regime.

Part of the efforts Wanga has put in place targets to improve locally generated revenue by streamlining revenue collection that had provided an avenue for pilferage.

A similar situation is also developing in Migori where governor Ochilo Ayacko, who vowed to only settle "genuine" pending bills, is grappling with bills amounting to Sh605.26 million.

During the first three months of the financial year, the devolved unit only settled Sh400,000 in pending bills for recurrent expenditure.

Ayacko's government plans to put in place verification committees to ensure that what his administration pays on behalf of the people of Migori is what has brought "value to their lives, businesses and welfare".

His Kisii counterpart Simba Arati is also facing a huge pending bill, amounting to Sh1.33 billion.

The amount includes Sh394.77 million for recurrent expenditure while development takes the lion's share with Sh1.07 billion.

Within the first three months of the financial year, the devolved unit only settled Sh132.73 million.

In the entire region, only Nyamira County has been able to address the problem of pending bills.

Although the devolved unit reported Sh175.13 million in pending bills within the first three months of the financial year, it has settled Sh143.17 million in pending bills.

According to Nyakang'o, the high pending bills is among the teething problems that counties should address to improve the effective implementation of the budget.