A group of Counties are on the spot for failing to pay pending bills owed to suppliers and contractors, some dating back 10 years, which now stand at Sh172.5 billion.

This has been established during the Senate County Public Accounts Committee meetings chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang to interrogate the status of implementation of the unresolved issues raised in the report of the Auditor General for the financial year 2023—2024.

The senators exposed the persistent failure of county governments to settle debts owed to small and medium-sized enterprises, some dating as far back as the 2014-15 financial year, expressing concerns that some were small suppliers owed as little as Sh150,000.

Tharaka Nithi and Garissa Counties are among the counties identified for failing to pay contractors years after they delivered goods and services, with some chasing payment a decade later, even as wealthy contractors who recently secured multimillion-shilling road tenders are paid promptly.

“It is very disturbing that county governments are willing to pay large firms while small-scale traders who often take loans just to deliver on contracts are left to suffer as they chase to be paid for work done many years later with little success,” said Kajwang.

In Tharaka Nithi, senators were concerned over the case of Sophia Enterprises, a firm that supplied foodstuffs to Chuka Hospital in the 2014-15 financial year but remains unpaid despite submitting multiple invoices, wondering why this could be the reason.

Governor Muthomi Njuki, who was a Member of Parliament at the time the contract was awarded, said the county was still verifying the documents to confirm delivery, admitting that they have documents for the supply, but they have yet to validate that the goods were delivered.

Kajwang’ asked Njuki why there was this delay, yet there was an LSO number, the invoice, and the delivery note, wondering what more was needed to confirm payment, and that it was worth noting that the county had never contacted Sophia Enterprises to request additional documents.

“This is not only unjust but very unfair to this company that has remained unpaid 10 years later simply because the county administration has not verified whether someone delivered meat to a hospital; this should never be allowed at all,” said Kajwang.

The Senators noted that Tharaka Nithi County has pending bills, which now stand at Sh400 million, with the governor defending his position, saying he would not authorise payment of unverified claims for fear of audit queries being raised.

The committee was shocked to learn of a supplier in Garissa who is owed Sh1.6 million since 2014 but has only received Sh500,000 to date, while the county spends hundreds of thousands of shillings on the renovation of national government houses.

Kajwang asked Governor Nadhif Jama to expedite the payment of long-standing pending bills, since most of them were a matter of life and death, since some of the affected contractors have had their businesses collapse, while others have been taken over due to unpaid loans by banks.

The Senators noted that Garissa County’s pending bills currently exceed Sh2.4 billion and that it was upon the Governor to ensure that they are cleared since goods and services were delivered, but those who did that were being taken around in circles.

According to the latest County expenditure report released by Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o, all the 47 counties have accumulated pending bills amounting to Sh172.51 billion as at March 31 this year, which raises a red flag about their commitment to clear them.

The Senate is now demanding a comprehensive audit of all pending bills, especially historical debts owed to small traders, while calling for tougher enforcement measures against counties that delay or evade payment of verified claims.