Nairobi City County is now the largest holder of unpaid bills by county governments totaling Ksh 86.8 billion, which exceeds its annual budget by Ksh 43.2 billion.
According analysis by the National Treasury, Nairobi City accounted for 47pc of total bills owed to various suppliers by the devolved units totaling Ksh 183 billion as of June 2025.
“As of 30th June 2025, County Governments reported outstanding pending bills amounting to KSh 183.0 billion. This comprises Ksh 130.8 billion for recurrent activities and Ksh 52.2 billion for development activities,” said Treasury in the approved 2026 Budget Policy Statement.
The data shows that the county’s recurrent unpaid bills amounted to Ksh 78.9 billion by the close of the 2024/25 financial year while development unpaid bills totaled Ksh 7.2 billion.
Nairobi County Assembly also owed supplier Ksh 650.6 million.
The Ksh 86.8 billion pending bill was 199pc more than the for FY2024/25 budget which amounted to Ksh 43.6 billion.
Kilifi County had the second highest accumulated arrears totaling Ksh 9.3 billion equivalent to 43pc of its annual budget of Ksh 21.4 billion during the period while Machakos County followed with Ksh 6.7 billion in pending bills.
On average, Treasury says the total pending bills by County Governments accounted for 30pc of the total county government approved budgets in FY 2024/25.
“An analysis of the aged pending bills for County Governments as of 30th June 2025 shows that Ksh 48.9 billion (27pc) are under one year, Ksh 19.8 billion (11pc), are aged between one and two years, Ksh 20.34 billion (11pc), are aged between two and three years, and Ksh 85.4 billion (45pc), are older than three years. This analysis excludes aged pending bills for Kakamega and Narok Counties,” Treasury indicated.
Elgeyo Marakwet County had the least amount of pending bills amounting to Ksh 12.1 million followed by Lamu, Kitui and Samburu counties which had unpaid bills totaling Ksh 32 million, Ksh 229.9 million and Ksh 231 million respectively.
The total pending bills by county executives totaled Ksh 177.9 billion, while those for the county assemblies amount to Ksh 5.1 billion.
