Counties clear Sh23 billion pending bills in 6 months

County governments cleared nearly half of their verified pending bills worth Sh48 billion between June and December last year, giving small businesses much-needed working capital that was locked up in county contracts.

An audit by the Office of the Auditor General done earlier last year had found that counties were sitting on a total pending bills pile of Sh156.19 billion as of June, out of which Sh48.1 billion was verified for payment while the remaining Sh108.5 billion was classified as “ineligible for payment due to lack of documentation to support services rendered or work done”.