The Treasury has allocated the National Youth Service (NYS) an additional Sh1billion to offset its pending bills amid rising anguish by suppliers and contractors.
Treasury Cabinet secretary Ukur Yatani said the agency would now be allocated Sh11.02 billion in the current financial year, up from Sh10.02 billion earlier set aside aside for it.
“The additional expenditure is a provision for the pending bills,” he said in a supplementary budget tabled in Parliament.
Though the Treasury did not state the NYS’ total pending bills, the additional Sh1billion brings some relief to suppliers and contractors whose cash has remained locked at the State agency for more than five years.
Only last August, suppliers and contractors who rendered services to the NYS at the height of Sh791 million theft petitioned Parliament to push for their pending payments.
Payments to suppliers were stopped in 2015 following the NYS scandal I and II in which nearly Sh2 billion was lost through fictitious procurement. The suppliers and contractors were engaged to supply goods and services during 2013/18.
Freeze in payments
Reforms initiated by Public Service and Youth Cabinet Secretary Margret Kobia led to a freeze in paying the pending bills amounting to Sh5.6 billion for supplies delivered to the NYS.
The freeze in payments saw NYS suppliers undergo fresh prequalification as the government moved to seal loopholes exploited for theft.
The prosecution had said that funds were stolen through fictitious invoices and multiple payments. The State then constituted a multi-agency team to verify all pending claims before payments can be effected. The team scrutinised all pending bills and claims up to June 2018.
The team comprised officers from the Treasury, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Attorney General’s office.
The suppliers have protested that they have not received payments despite the team concluding its work and recommending that the NYS and the Treasury pay cleared bills.
Verification by the multi-agency team had indicated that claim vouchers worth over Sh1 billion were found to be fake. BY DAILY NATION