Senate halts Kilifi Sh11.9b pending bills payments over conflicting figures

Senators during the Senate Mashinani plenary sitting at the Kilifi County Assembly on September 23, 2026. [Elvis Ogina, Standard ]

The Senate has directed the Controller of Budget not to approve the withdrawal of funds to Kilifi County Government to pay pending bills worth Sh11.9 billion until a certified figure is established.

The Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC), chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang, asked the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the county and identify suppliers and contractors claiming ghost supplies and projects.

Senator Kajwang said that this was arrived at after Kilifi County Chief Officer in charge of Finance Lawrence Mwonzonga gave conflicting figures on the pending bills worth billions of shillings, which conflicted with what was contained in the Auditor General’s report.

“While the Auditor General in her latest report puts the figure for the pending bills in Kilifi County at Sh11.9billion, the County Finance Officer committee says they have since verified part of the pending bills and established that only Sh5.1billion is legitimate,” said Kajwang.

Mwonzonga further claimed that as a County Government, they had estimated the figure of pending bills to be worth Ksh7.5 billion, with Ksh3.1billion having been set aside for payment in the current financial year, which led Senators to question as to how they arrived at the figure.

The County Finance Officer told the Senate Committee that the County had set up a verification committee for the pending bills, which has now verified bills worth Sh5.1billion as being legitimate and that they had stopped carrying out new projects until they were cleared.

“I would like to tell this Senate Committee that the Kilifi County Government owes contractors and suppliers Sh7.5 billion, with Sh3.1billion having been set aside to clear the accounting payables, with the County Executive taking on new projects until the issue of pending bills is addressed,” said Mwonzonga.

The Chief Officer in charge of Finance found himself on the receiving end after the Controller of Budget disclosed to the committee that the County Executive had budgeted for Sh8.7 billion to defray the pending bills and that the County Assembly had only approved Sh3.1billion.

Kajwang said that the County Government was technically insolvent and that there was no way they could budget to pay Sh8.7 billion for pending bills, yet the County revenue is Sh13 billion, stating that they had directed the Controller of Budget not to approve the withdrawal of funds.

The Homa Bay Senator said that it was disturbing that there were some pending bills for accounts payable dating back to 2015, worth a paltry Sh500 million, which remain outstanding to date, asking the County Executive to give them actual figures of what is owed to the contractors and suppliers and the payment plan.

“There is no way a service provider who offered a service of providing air tickets to officials of the county, the tickets have been availed, and up to date, such a person should not be paid; that is ridiculous. We should be furnished with the payment plan for all pending bills,” said Kajwang’.

According to the Homa Bay Senator, some of the pending bills which have taken years to be settled should not go beyond six months after the service has been rendered, seeking to know what might be the reason as to why they have been left pending for the last 10 years.

The Senators raised concerns that some of the contractors claiming payment had not completed their projects, with some of the officials of the County Executive being accused of being accomplices in attempts to siphon the county funds.

“We are aware that there are crooks inside the County Executive who are colluding with contractors and demanding to be paid for works not done or services not rendered; we are directing the EACC to launch an investigation into the likely collusion,” said Kajwang’.

The revelations emerged after a Member of Kilifi County Assembly, Twaher Abdulkarim (Shella), disclosed that in a ward, a contractor had constructed an ECD classroom at the cost of Sh3million and failed to fit the door and was demanding full payment.

According to Abdulkarim, there was an unholy alliance between the County officials and some of the contractors, adding that the said individual had already been paid more than half of the claims and it was highly likely that he was going to be paid the remaining amount.

“In my ward, there is a contractor who has built a classroom but has never fitted the door, yet he is demanding full payment for works not completed; it took the intervention of the County Assembly, which resolved that the person must not be paid until the work is completed,” said Abdulkarim.

The Senate Committee has now directed the County Executive to ensure that they verify all the pending bills, create a workable payment plan and ensure legitimate contractors and suppliers are paid for works done and services offered in time.