Revenue and pending bills battles escalate in Kilifi
The row over low revenue collections and non-payment of suppliers spilled over to the county assembly committee with MCAs blaming the executive for doing little about it.
The MCAs who grilled County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Finance and Economic Planning Madam Yaye Shoshi Ahmed questioned why the county was under performing on its own source revenue collections which is currently at Sh.85.64 million against an annual projection of 1.47 billion.
They also put her to task over the Sh 1.5 billion pending bills owed to suppliers.
The CECM had appeared before the Assembly Committee on Implementation to give a report on the Budget Implementation for the Financial Year (F/Y) 2022/2023.
The Committee Chaired by Dabaso Member of County Assembly, Hon. Emmanuel Changawa also sought to know why the county was using a manual payroll system.
In her submission the CECM attributed the low collection to the current trials of the automated system of revenue collection within the county.
During the reporting period, the County collected a total of Ksh. 334.227 million which is 22.8 percent of the annual target. This represents an improvement of Ksh. 16.586 million in collections in the second quarter compared to Ksh. 158.822 million collected in the first quarter of the FY 2022/2023.
The CECM also identified delays in disbursement of equitable share and non- disbursement of conditional grants from the National Treasury as a hindrance to execution and implementation of the County Budget.
She told the Committee that once the automated system is fully operational, queries that were raised by the Members will eventually find a solution.
On the pending bills, she said that the county will only pay suppliers who will be cleared by the pending bills committee.
Her submissions come just a few days after Governor Gideon Mung’aro insisted that he won’t pay any pending bills, which have been flagged by the Auditor General.
Mung’aro said the county inherited Sh1.5 billion pending bills but revealed that bills worth Sh800 million are disputed.
The governor said the bills are for projects that were done without budgeting hence they cannot be verified.
“I have announced many times and if they have not heard let them hear this today, we will finish the cartel business in this county it is not business as usual anymore,” Mung’aro said.
The move seems not to have been welcomed by a section of MCAs and traders in the county who argue that the county is suffering economically because of non-payment of suppliers.
The governor said to address the issue of pending bills the CECs will strictly adhere to the PFM act where they have to be doing the Bill of Quantities for approval with a budget.
The governor said all the accountants, officials in charge of IFMIS and procurement officers have already moved to the treasury department and will operate from there.
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