Nairobi County hands over pending bills to Nairobi Metropolitan Services worth KES 1.3B

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Nairobi County hands over Pending bills files to Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director General worth Kes1.3B for payment
Nairobi, 27th January, 2021 – This morning Nairobi City County Government (NCCG) led by Deputy Governor and Acting Governor, Ann Kananu Mwenda handed over pending bills files for contracts for the transferred functions from NCCG to Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director General, Major General Mohammed Badi at Charter hall.

“We know that late settlement of debts attracts interest and penalties for respective suppliers. Additionally, when bills remain unresolved and unpaid for far too long counties lose their credibility with suppliers and contractors. Pending bills also exacerbate liquidity constraints among suppliers. This in turn has a ripple effect that has contributed to massive job losses.” – Deputy Governor Ann Mwenda

The DG and Acting Governor said that the decision was arrived at after the National Treasury recently requested the Office of the Auditor General to undertake a special audit in line with section 96 (3) of the Public Finance Management (PFM). As a result, Nairobi City County and NMS formed a committee to look into all the contracts and files of accumulated pending bills for 2018/2019 Financial Year.

Said a beaming Ms Kananu

“Today we are happy to handover the pending bills files worth Kes 1.3B over to NMS for payment. I will task my finance team to adopt a phased approach to settling outstanding arrears, even if it means settling bills in installments in certain circumstances in order to restore liquidity for business owners. Top of my agenda is fostering a new spirit of co-operation, collaboration, partnership and mutual respect among all organs of Government, the County Assembly, Nairobi City County Staff, key stakeholders and other partners.”

SPEECH: NAIROBI CITY COUNTY GOVERNMENT, DEPUTY GOVERNOR AND ACTING GOVERNOR, ANN KANANU MWENDA HAND OVER OF PENDING BILLS FILES FOR CONTRACTS FOR THE TRANSFERRED FUNCTIONS FROM NCCG TO NAIROBI METROPOLITAN SERVICES (NMS)
ON JANUARY, 27TH 2021 AT CHARTER HALL

The Director General, Nairobi Metropolitan Services, Major General Mohammed Badi,
Speaker, County Assembly, Hon. Bernard Mutura,
Members of the County Assembly,
Members of the Nairobi City County Government County Executive,
County Attorney, Lydia Kwamboka,
Acting County Secretary, Jairus Musumba and Clerk County Assembly Edward Gichana,
Nairobi City County Government staff,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning and welcome to City hall and witness the start of a new journey that will breathe new life to Nairobi City and the larger Nairobi Metropolitan Area. Having taken Oath of Office in my capacity as Deputy Governor, Nairobi City County on 18th January, 2021, I vowed to build on the visible achievements seen in the last few months as well as remain driven by the vision and understanding of a whole Government approach to service delivery.

I continue to reiterate that I am not a politician and I will not endeavor to be one especially at a time when Nairobi City yearns for service delivery. Top of my agenda is fostering a new spirit of co-operation, collaboration, partnership and mutual respect among all organs of Government, the County Assembly, Nairobi City County Staff, key stakeholders and other partners. Today one of my principal partners in delivering services to Nairobi residents, Major General, Mohammed Badi, Director General, Nairobi Metropolitan Services, is here with his team to receive files of pending bills for contracts entered into for the transferred functions from the Nairobi City County Government to the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
Accumulation of pending bills has raised concerns in the recent past and has put suppliers on edge. Typically, Nairobi City County Government procures services and goods from different entities. It is expected that payments be honored according to the contract terms. However, time and again, County and National Government entities; Nairobi City County included, finds itself facing cash deficits as a result of myriad factors, and are unable to honor the requisite payments.

Some of these factors include delayed transfers from the national Government, own source revenue shortages, disputed payments and delayed legislations such as the recent Senate stalemate on revenue sharing formula, while some of the pending bills are inherited from previous local authorities and administrations.

For the purpose of settling genuine pending bills, the National Treasury recently requested the Office of the Auditor General to undertake a special audit in line with section 96 (3) of the Public Finance Management (PFM). As a result, Nairobi City County and NMS formed a committee to look into all the contracts and files of accumulated pending bills for 2018/2019 Financial Year. Today we are happy to handover the pending bills files worth Kes 1.3B over to NMS for payment.

Ladies and Gentlemen, We know that late settlement of debts attracts interest and penalties for respective suppliers. Additionally, when bills remain unresolved and unpaid for far too long counties lose their credibility with suppliers and contractors. Pending bills also exacerbate liquidity constraints among suppliers. This in turn has a ripple effect that has contributed to massive job losses.

I would like to urge, the NMS leadership led by the good General to make pending bills payments the first item of expenditure on their budgets for the 2019/2020 financial year. I will task my finance team to adopt a phased approach to settling outstanding arrears, even if it means settling bills in installments in certain circumstances in order to restore liquidity for business owners.

In conclusion, I would like to assure Nairobi City County staff and Nairobi residents that I am excited by the possibilities, challenges and opportunities that will come with leading this great City of ours. By working together, we will realize our shared vision of harnessing the passion and potential that exists in our 21st century City. We are committed to making great strides and improvements for the benefit of all. Together, we will ensure that Nairobi City continues to be the City of choice; to Live, work and Invest in.

Nairobi City deserves no less…we owe it to our people…
Asante sana and God bless you all