This archive report was first published on 23 July 2019.
Published on July 23, 2019, a special audit by the Auditor-General has uncovered a massive discrepancy in the counties' pending bills, with Sh57.12 billion found to be fake and ineligible for payment.
The audit, which was tabled in the Senate last week, revealed that only Sh51.28 billion out of the total Sh108.41 billion pending bills in counties are genuine and worth being settled.
The discrepancy was first highlighted in the Controller of Budget's annual report for the 2017/18 financial year, which indicated that the outstanding pending bills in the counties stood at Sh108.41 billion as at June 2018.
However, the special audit revealed that the actual figure was Sh88.98 billion, indicating a difference of Sh19.42 billion.
Of the Sh88.98 billion figure, only pending bills worth Sh51.28 billion are eligible for payment, while another Sh37.70 billion presented for verification was ineligible due to lack of documentation or non-delivery of goods or services.
A total of Sh10.80 billion of the eligible pending bills were paid between June 30, 2018, and February 15, 2019, leaving an outstanding balance of Sh40.47 billion.
The Senate's County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) has summoned the Auditor-General Edward Ouko and Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo for a meeting to establish the basis of the discrepancy and explore ways of finding a solution.
