Pending bills queries still unanswered, CoB reveals
by Jacktone Lawi
As the term of the current Parliament nears completion, questions raised by the office of the Controller of Budget (CoB) over discrepancies in pending bills still remain unanswered.
This after the CoB in its National Government Budget Implementation Review Report for the First Quarter of 2021-22 financial year warned that Governments’ Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) reported conflicting figures of outstanding financial obligations.
The report by the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o estimates that pending bills for State Corporations stood at a whopping Sh323.2 billion at the close of the first quarter.
““An analysis of financial reports submitted to the CoB shows discrepancies in figures self-reported by some MDAs and the National Treasury.
There is, therefore, a need to reconcile the pending bills figures for the MDAs to ascertain the actual position of the pending bills for the National Government,” said the report.
Experts say it is prudent to finalise these audit queries before the next general elections to avoid further discrepancies since civil servants seeking to contest in the general election must quit at least six months to the polls.
Outstanding balance
As of 30th June 2021 however, pending bills for MDAs stood at Sh56.78 billion and a total of Sh3.8 billion was paid in the first three months of this financial year, leaving an outstanding balance at Sh52.88 billion.
It emerged that eight parastatals currently have pending bills amounting to 43.8 billion.
The State Department for Public Service (NYS) led with bills amounting to Sh15.6 billion followed closely by State Department for Crop Development & Agricultural Research at Sh11.9 billion with the state department of transport coming a distant third at 6.2 billion.
Others with huge pending bills are State Department for Regional and Northern Corridor Development Sh2.2 billion, State Department for Wildlife with Sh2.6 billion, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Sh2.2 billion, State Department for Sports Sh1.1 billion and State Department for Interior and Citizen Services at Sh2 billion.
During the period the debt for the ministries and departments saw the exclusion of Sh100.15 billion that was considered as ineligible after the verification of the pending bills.
Agencies and departments that performed best with no pending bills include the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Office of Auditor General, Office of the Controller of Budget and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority.
Seventeen MDAs
“For the period ending 30th June 2021, MDAs pending bills reported by the National Treasury were Sh36.35 billion for seventeen MDAs. Report by the National Treasury as of 30th June 2021 shows that pending bills for State Corporations stood at Sh323.2 billion. Therefore, total pending bills for the national government amount to Sh376.08 billion,” read the report in part.
This comes amid increased use of allocated budget to meet recurrent expenditure. CoB data shows that in the past 4 years this increased from Sh1.45 billion (55.5 per cent) in 2017 to Sh2.6 billion (68.8 per cent) in the 2021/22 budget.
During the quarter under review, tax revenues stood at Sh416.82 billion while domestic borrowing accounted for Sh306.84 billion of government revenue.
Overall, receipts into the Consolidated Fund were Sh782.21 billion about 23.8 per cent of the annual target.
