Sh1.2bn released to pay NYS suppliers after Uhuru order
Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki shows Standard One pupil Irene Wamuyu how to use a tablet at Kiarithaini Primary School in Nyeri County on October 21, 2016 during the launch of the digital literacy programme in the county. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said on Friday that half of the money will be paid to suppliers who conducted business with the NYS and others under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities initiative.
- The CS made the remarks at Kiarithaini Primary School in Mathira constituency, Nyeri County, after issuing cheques worth Sh15.2 million to 59 groups under the Women Enterprise Fund.
The government has released Sh1.2 billion owed to suppliers and special interest groups by the National Youth Service (NYS), weeks after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered government departments to clear the pending bills.
Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said on Friday that half of the money will be paid to suppliers who conducted business with the NYS and others under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities initiative.
“The tenders were given the previous year. The delays were caused by new processes initiated in verifying the payments, which took more than five months,” she said.
Ms Kariuki had stopped the payments immediately after she was appointed minister at the end of last year, after the ministry lost over Sh791 million in dubious payments, leading to the prosecution of its top officials.
“I have already received the report following a recent Cabinet meeting that ordered [the] release of the funds owed to youth, women and persons living with disabilities.
"All payments have been processed and forwarded to the exchequer,” she said.
The announcement came a few weeks after President Kenyatta warned that government officers who fail to make the payments on time would be sacked.
Ms Kariuki made the remarks at Kiarithaini Primary School in Mathira constituency, Nyeri County, after issuing cheques worth Sh15.2 million to 59 groups under the Women Enterprise Fund.
She also launched county’s Digital Literacy Program and issued 78 learning tablets to Standard One pupils at the school, which was said to be the best-performing public school in the region, having registered a mean score of 275 points in last year’s KCPE.
Ms Kariuki said the programme, which aims to cover 23,000 primary schools before end of this year, will position Kenya as a digital hub and be competitive globally.
The government, she stated, has disbursed Sh1.27 billion to 21,000 public schools to improve infrastructure in readiness for receiving the tablets.
