Contractors and suppliers awaiting payment from the national government will experience further delays, as only a meager sum of Ksh.10 billion has been allocated in the 2024/2025 budget to settle the outstanding debt.
According to Ndindi Nyoro, the Chairperson of the National Assembly Budget and Appropriation Committee, the allocation for suppliers and contractors couldn’t be determined yet, as the verification process for the Ksh.641 billion pending bills is still ongoing.
With the budget unveiling scheduled for Thursday afternoon, uncertainty looms over those awaiting payment, as their claims will undergo additional scrutiny for yet another year. While the Pending Bills Verification Committee, led by Former Auditor General Edward Ouko, has cleared Ksh.110 billion worth of pending bills in its initial report, Nyoro emphasizes that further verification is necessary.
Consequently, the committee has decided to establish a special pending bills fund with an initial allocation of Ksh.10 billion.
“We have in this budget allocated Ksh.10 billion to pending bills because we want to start the payment of those bills,” said the Kiharu lawmaker.
“The verification process is ongoing, that’s why there was no need to allocate a lot of money…but this amount will be enhanced.”
The budget committee says it has put irreducible minimums in the budget that includes hiring of all the Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
“We have given the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Ksh.18 billion to ensure all those intern teachers are hired on permanent and pensionable terms and TSC must not wait until January,” Nyoro added.
The minority side however says the funding of the proposed budget is punitive to the taxpayers.
“What we have not agreed is the funding…when we bring a Finance Bill that is increasing the cost of commodities, that is again taking us backwards,” Embakasi East MP Babu Owino said.
National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi added:
“The taxes in that Bill are too much and this time round we must reject the Finance Bill across the aisle.”
As the Treasury awaits to unveil the budget on Thursday afternoon, the recurrent expenditure vote remains a headache.
The Senate has on its part mounted ceilings on the expenditure by counties on the recurrent expenditure.
