Treasury extends mandate of taskforce scrutinising pending bills by six months
The extension follows revelations that the taskforce, chaired by former Auditor General Edward Ouko, has cleared pending bills amounting to Sh206 billion.
The National Treasury has extended the term of the taskforce validating pending bills for an additional six months.
In a gazette notice dated January 31, the Treasury announced that the extension took effect from October 1, 2024, and will run until March 31, 2025.
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“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 notice.
The extension follows revelations that the taskforce, chaired by former Auditor General Edward Ouko, has cleared pending bills amounting to Sh206 billion. The approved bills are for claims below Sh10 million.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said on Friday that the government would soon begin settling the validated payments.
“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 said.
“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 taskforce was constituted in October 2023 when then-Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u appointed Ouko to lead an 18-member committee tasked with validating the pending bills.
As of June 2022, the national government’s outstanding pending bills stood at Sh481 billion.
Ouko is deputised by Tirop Kosgey, while the committee includes members 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.
Other members include Maximus Siwa, Kanini Nthiga, Livingstone Mburu, David Kipchumba Ruto, and Susan Oyatsi.
“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,” reads the notice.
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