Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has announced the transfer of Sh43.5 billion to county governments.
In a statement on Wednesday, the CS insisted that counties should prioritise payment of pending bills owed to their suppliers and their statutory dues.
“The payment of these pending bills will be closely monitored and future transfers weighed against the fulfilment of this important obligation to the private sector,” Yatani said.
This according to CS Yatani, will boost economic activity in the counties, which is part of the inclusive economic recovery programme for the country.
The Sh43.5 billion only clears dues owed to the counties for April 2021.
Yatani added that Treasury will prioritise clearing of the owed dues for the months of May and June, 2021 to continue the improved economic performance.
This comes a few days after CS Ukur Yatani asked all government agencies to clear their pending bills by the end of June 2021.
While presenting the Budget for the year 2021-2022 before the National Assembly, the CS said that the Treasury will stop the transfer of cash to agencies that will not comply with the directive.
“Government ministries, departments, and counties directed to clear pending bills by June 30. To enforce compliance, Treasury will stop cash transfers to counties that don’t comply with the directive… MPs urged to support the proposal,” he said.
Yatani who appeared before the Senate Finance and Budget Committee on Tuesday last week revealed that the devolved units have pending bills amounting to Sh90 billion that have accumulated over the years.
“At the moment, we are in the range of Sh80 billion and Sh90 billion which has not been settled,” the CS told the committee.
Treasury estimated arrears owed to contractors and suppliers by ministries, departments and agencies at national level at about Sh307.8 billion as at the end of March 2021. BY THE STAR