Pending Bills: Cabinet Clears KSh 23.74B ($0.18B) for 28,726 Supplier Claims Worth KSh 50M or LessPending Bills: Cabinet Clears KSh 23.74B ($0.18B) for 28,726 Supplier Claims Worth KSh 50M or Less

The approval matters most to small suppliers and contractors, because it covers only claims of KSh 50M ($0.39M) or less and puts micro, small and medium enterprises first. Some of the bills are old: a State House dispatch cited by Capital FM says certain suppliers have waited since 2005.

What Cabinet approved

The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi, on 9 October 2026, according to Capital FM. The National Treasury will oversee implementation. It appointed the Pending Bills Verification Committee in 2023 to review bills that built up between June 2005 and June 2022.

The committee received 115,617 claims worth KSh 664.8B. After verification it recommended 29,257 claims worth KSh 155.34B ($1.20B) for settlement. Cabinet's approval covers 28,726 of those, about 98% of the recommended claims by number.

Bills above KSh 50M ($0.39M) will be settled progressively, Capital FM reports. Neither the Cabinet account nor The Star's report names a funding source or a payment date.

How much of the backlog this clears

On Mwenendo's arithmetic, the KSh 23.74B approved is about 3.57% of the KSh 664.8B submitted and about 15.28% of the KSh 155.34B the committee recommended. By number, the approval covers about 24.85% of all claims received.

The gap between the amount submitted and the amount recommended shows how much verification removed from the pile. The reports do not say how many claims were rejected, deferred or referred for investigation, and Mwenendo has not seen the committee's full findings.

What the business lobby wants next

Erick Ruto, president of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI), welcomed the payments and told The Star they "will go a long way in relieving the pain of many MSMEs". The chamber called the approval only an "initial step" towards clearing government arrears.

KNCCI wants verification of outstanding claims finished quickly, with prompt settlement at both national and county level. It also asked for lower taxes, harmonised levies and fees across the two levels of government, and affordable, patient financing for small firms.

The chamber cited a 2016 survey that counted more than 7.4 million MSMEs employing over 14.4 million people and contributing about 33.8% of gross domestic product. That survey is a decade old, so the figures are a guide to scale rather than a current count.

Why the payment date is the real test

For a supplier, an approval is not cash. The measure that counts is how quickly the money reaches bank accounts, and whether the Treasury can stop new arrears from forming once the old ones are cleared.

Mwenendo earlier reported on how the Cabinet's KSh 45.40B ($350M) Kenya Airways package was approved at the same 9 October meeting, which shows how many demands compete for the same Treasury cash.

As Mwenendo earlier reported, pressure on household and business budgets is building, with inflation at 6.8% in September and the Central Bank Rate held at 8.75%.

Late government payments add to that strain for firms that borrow to keep stock on shelves.