Hon. Lesuuda wants Governors compelled to pay pending Bills

Samburu West MP Hon. Naisula Lesuuda wants law changed to ensure new administrations pay pending bills.

Hon. Lesuuda wants new county governments compelled to pay all pending Bills. The MP in an interview The Star revealed that she is preparing an amendment to the Public Procurement and Disposal Act to deal with the issue of pending Bills at the Counties which is also rampant at the national government level.

At a recent forum by Kepsa, Hon. Lesuuda said, suppliers, especially youthful ones, had complained that their payments are either delayed or scrapped once a new Govorner assumes office.

“A lot of pending bills go unpaid once a new governor takes over. The same is happening in ministries and government agencies when the accounting officer changes,” The MP said.

Hon. Lesuuda wants the proposed amendment to deal with the transition both at the national and county government level. The amendment will ensure that governors will not refuse to pay what was incurred the previous administration. Hon. Lesuuda believes there should be a law should be in place to ensure the successful transition in the counties.

Last week, Controller of Budget revealed that counties had an accumulated Sh108 billion debt from the 2017/18 financial year. When new governors took over in 2017, most either announced that they would not pay pending bills or formed committees to scrutinise the debts incurred by their predecessors.

Last year, Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja refused to pay more than Sh500 million pending bills saying that an audit had revealed that there was no documentation.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko also appointed a ten-man committee to review and clear pending debts for goods supplied and services rendered in Evans Kidero’s administration.

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru also announced that the county would not pay Sh290 million pending bills from the last regime until a special audit is done by the Auditor General.

On Madaraka Day, President Uhuru Kenyatta Kenyatta directed the National Treasury and the accounting officers of various ministries to pay all pending bills that do not have audit queries by the end of this financial year.

With the law in place, Hon Lesuuda believes that this dispute will be solved and Kenyan youths who supply goods and services to the county governments are paid.