Mbadi extends pending bills verification team's term for 6 months

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi.PHOTO/FILE

In a Gazette notice dated January 31, Mbadi said the term has been extended with effect from October 1, 2024.

“IT IS notified for general information to the public that the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning has extended the term of the Taskforce appointed vide Gazette Notice No. 13355/2023; Joint Secretaries and additional members appointed vide Gazette Notice Nos. 14721/2023 and 17424/2023, respectively, for a further period of six (6) months, with effect from the 1st October 2024 up to the 31st March 2025,’’ reads the gazette notice.

The extension comes after it emerged that the task force chaired by former Auditor General Edward Ouko has cleared pending Bills amounting to Sh206 billion.

The pending bills approved by the review committee are for those below Sh10 million.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi on Friday said the government would soon start paying the pending bills approved by the Ouko team.

“The Edward Ouko team has given us a preliminary report. Out of the bills that were submitted to the committee amounting to about Sh665 billion, they have analysed around Sh474 billion worth of bills,” Mbadi told the Star.

“Out of that they have been able to clear around Sh206 billion, so either these bills have been fictitious or maybe too much of other charges like interest and penalties,” the Treasury CS said.

In October 2023, then Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u appointed Ouko to lead an 18-member team to validate pending bills.

As of June 2022, the national government's pending bills stood at Sh481 billion.

Ouko is deputised by Tirop Kosgey.

Other members of the committee include Ali Abdulrazaq, Hesbon Omollo, Eric Onyango Gumbo, Patience Mulondo, James Washington Munene Gitonga, Bernard Ndungu, Nicholas Munywoki Mutua, James Kung’u, Cassius Kusienya, Peter Kitheka and Margaret Gichimu.

Maximus Siwa, Kanini Nthiga, Livingstone Mburu, David Kipchumba Ruto and Susan Oyatsi were also appointed to the team.

"The functions of the Committee shall be to scrutinise and analyse the existing National Government pending bills that have accumulated between June 2005 and June 2022 and make recommendations to the Government on settlement of the same;

"They will establish a clearly defined criteria for detailed examination and analysis of such pending bills or claims with a view to determining the genuineness of each or otherwise," read the statement in part.