Naivasha: A change is in the offing to curb wastage among county bosses as concerns over piling pending bills in counties threaten to cause financial distress in coming years. The proposed policy reforms include enacting a financial ceiling cap and sanctions against governors found exceeding the established limit on pending bills.
According to Kenya News Agency, Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot highlighted that pending bills worth billions of shillings owed by counties to suppliers have increased threefold over the last three years. This rise in unpaid payments has led to the closure and risk of auction for numerous businesses that have supplied counties with critical and essential services and goods.
Cheruiyot emphasized that 90 percent of the county governments have tripled their pending bills since taking office in August 2022. He warned that if left unaddressed, suppliers might cease doing business with counties, and court-enforced attachments of county accounts could bring devolved governments to a halt.
Cheruiyot acknowledged that the issue requires a policy-level solution, including spending ceilings and sanctions. However, addressing it near an election cycle poses risks of politicization, complicating timely action. A recent analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office revealed that no single county has committed to clearing its outstanding pending bills, which amounts to billions of shillings.
Apart from Nairobi County, which owes over Sh90 billion in pending bills due to historical offices, all other counties have tripled their bills in the last three years, crippling businesses. Cheruiyot, speaking at the inaugural County Procurement Congress in Naivasha, noted that up to 80 percent of probes by the Senate Accounts Committee involve procurement irregularities.
He identified breaches of procurement processes, irregular procurement methods and contracts, missing supporting documents, and flouting of procurement laws as major gaps causing the loss of billions of shillings in counties. The Senate has flagged skyrocketing project financing, loss of public funds from abandoned projects, and the lack of mandatory audit committees as loopholes facing counties.
Cheruiyot praised the transition from cash-based accounting to electronic government procurement (E-GP) as crucial for addressing gaps in payments, tendering, and record-keeping. The E-GP platform, initiated by the National government, has already transitioned thousands of entities and agencies to digital systems to ensure transparency and accountability in the procurement of government services.
He committed to presenting a request from the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM) for representation in Senate oversight committees to the house leadership. This move aims to enable their participation in managing public resources in the country.
KISM CEO Kenneth Matiba stated that the institute is actively pursuing strategic partnerships with the Senate and other government institutions to elevate the procurement profession’s role in socio-economic development. Matiba noted that KISM’s membership has grown to approximately 28,000 professionals, a 44% increase, strengthening the profession’s capacity to safeguard public resources.
KISM Chairperson Jennifer Cirindi highlighted that the Congress drew representation from 35 counties, underlining broad county-level engagement with procurement reform. Cirindi mentioned that KISM is reviewing the Supplies Practitioners Management Act and its general regulations, seeking parliamentary support for these reforms. The institute is also lobbying for formal representation of procurement professionals in Senate and Parliamentary committees and government-led boards.
