President William Ruto has announced that the government has cleared all disbursements meant for the counties for the financial year ending June 30, 2023.

Speaking on Sunday, June 25, 2023, Ruto said he had cleared all debts meant for the current financial year, pledging support for county governments.

“I have disbursed all county funds. I do not owe any county even a single shilling. I paid (the counties) this week. I have decided that I will not cross (the financial year) with anyone’s debt. Now you (governors) have money in your accounts. Almost Ksh110 billion. Now continue planning citizens’ affairs,” Ruto said.

“I want to tell the counties that you have my 100 per cent support. If counties succeed, our nation Kenya will succeed. We are going to work with you, we are going to make sure that we take the country forward together.”

This comes a month after several counties threatened to shut down over about Ksh100 billion owed to them by the national government.

As of last month, the national government owed counties Ksh29.7 billion for March, Ksh33.3 billion for April and Ksh31.4 billion for May, 2023.

County debts

A recent report by the Controller of Budget shows that the 47 counties have cumulative pending bills of Ksh158 billion. According to the report which covered the period up to February 2023, the amount entails Ksh157.18 billion by the county executives and Ksh1.63 billion by county assemblies.

Nairobi accounts for the biggest pending bills at 63.2 per cent. Wajir has pending bills amounting to Ksh5.50 billion, Kiambu Ksh4.98 billion, Mombasa Ksh4.97 billion, Machakos Ksh2.88 billion and Murang’a Ksh2.57 billion.