Disclose Kenya's debt, MPs tell Rotich : The Standard

A House committee wants National Treasury CS Henry Rotich to say how much the Government owes in pending bills. The National Assembly Committee on Implementation chaired by Narok North MP Moitalel ole Kenta also wants Mr Rotich to explain the State's plans to settle the bills and when it intends to do so. The committee, whose members include Paul Abuor (Rongo), Antony Oluoch (Mathare), Marwa Kitayama (Kuria East) and Mark Nyamita (Uriri), also wants to know how much is owed, including accrued interest. The MPs, who spoke to The Standard in separate interviews on Sunday, also demanded that Rotich disclose the pending bills the Jubilee administration inherited as well as the new ones.

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Some of the debts were due to cancellation of contracts. "We want to know much debt Kenya is paying in pending bills and we want this done this year. We want to know who the money is owed to, both local and international firms, and how these debts came about," said Mr Abuor. The MPs said they were unhappy that Treasury was reluctant to disclose the exact figure, yet it spent a huge portion of its annual allocations servicing the bills. Mr Oluoch said: "The law provides that money allocated to a project should not be diverted, yet this has been happening." The committee vice chairman, Geoffrey Osotsi, accused some CSs of ignoring recommendations by MPs. 

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They cited the 2015/2016 Auditor General's report that said the Government had not paid Sh20.5 billion in pending bills. They claimed the Government had found it costly to part with over Sh100 billion in pending bills.

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