Pending bills for the National and County governments have hit Ksh640 billion, State House spokesperson Hussein Mohamed has said.

In a statement, Mohamed said the bills have accumulated for the last 17 years, leading to the collapse of several businesses owed by the governments.

“The pending bills, which have accumulated over the past 17 years for both the National and County Governments, amount to a staggering Ksh640 billion, pushing businesses to the brink of ruin, compelling MSMEs to shut down, increasing unemployment, and consequently resulting in an overall underperformance of the economy,” Mohamed stated.

Ruto on pending bills

This comes even as President William Ruto inaugurated the Pending Bills Verification Committee, which is mandated with providing a framework for the resolution of the pending bills.

“The committee is expected to swiftly provide a framework for the resolution of these pending bills, as the President is firmly committed to putting an end to the accumulation of such,” Mohamed added.

The committee will be chaired by the Former Auditor-General Edward Ouko.

“The Government must boost business and enterprise by honouring its commitments to suppliers. We will prioritize all genuine public sector payments in our new budgets to decisively sort out pending bills. This will restore confidence and help stimulate economic revival,” Ruto said.

Ruto explained that it is not the business of the Government to drive enterprises to ruin but to facilitate their performance.

“We must restore confidence in the people who do business with the Government by paying them in time,” he said.

The President noted that the move will stimulate economic revival by pumping back the much-needed capital in production.