Governors urged to clear pending bills before leaving office

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has cautioned governors against leaving pending bills as they exit office next year after the end of their tenure. Gathungu, speaking in Nanyuki, Laikipia County, during stakeholder engagement, decried that there had been a perennial problem of county bosses leaving liabilities to their predecessors. “I hope you’re not intending to leave liabilities to the incoming governor because you have finished your term. Someone else will come in and will find your liability,” Gathungu questioned Laikipia governor Joshua Irungu. She added: “We have seen a perennial behavior of leadership coming in and failing to honor obligations of the county. This is what has been ailing us. It’s fiscal indiscipline when services have been provided and goods consumed and then failing to pay because the liabilities were incurred by the previous regime,” said the auditor general. She said that failing to settle pending bills was undermining the county economy, and if several counties replicated the same, it would kill the country’s economic growth. “As you exit, check what liabilities you have, budget for them, and I hope there is a provision for clearing the liabilities for you to leave with a clean slate. I hope you don’t want to be called again after you exit and make negative headlines,” Gathungu cautioned the Laikipia governor. Recently, Governor Irungu had faced sharp criticism over claims of failing to pay more than Sh1.3 billion owed to contractors and suppliers who did the business with his predecessor Ndiritu Muriithi.

Irungu said that his administration was committed to paying all pending bills owed to the county for the five-year period, which he revealed was budgeted in the 2026/2027 financial year. The governor highlighted he would not leave any unpaid pending bills, including those of his predecessor. “We are not accumulating any pending bills; what we have done is only to pay previous bills that have been there. We are making sure all pending bills are paid, and we have to match our own source revenue,” said the county boss. Gathungu further put Laikipia County Assembly on the spot for not submitting its audit reports, which she said had accumulated to over 100 backlogs. “I want to challenge the county assemblies that they must clear all the audit reports backlogs and all reports submitted to the auditor general. The Laikipia County Assembly reported that they have 109 reports in arrears, “revealed Gathungu while at the same time pledging to assist in clearing the reports backlogs. ENDS

Kenya urged to turn bamboo potential into jobs and industry By Dickson Mwiti-KNA The government has called for concerted efforts to transform Kenya’s bamboo resources into a commercially viable industry capable of creating jobs, restoring degraded landscapes and improving community livelihoods.

Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Dr Deborah Barasa said Kenya has the potential to build a competitive bamboo industry but must now move beyond discussions about its potential to actual production, processing, value addition and marketing.

Speaking during the official opening of the National Bamboo Expo and Conference 2026 at Meru University of Science and Technology, the CS said Kenya has approximately 130,000 hectares of natural bamboo forests, predominantly indigenous highland bamboo, besides bamboo grown on private land.

She said the government had established an enabling policy framework through the National Bamboo Policy 2022 and the National Bamboo Development Strategy and Action Plan 2025–2035.

She called on farmers and communities to embrace bamboo as an enterprise opportunity, saying the government would promote greater participation of youth, women and local communities in the value chain.

She also urged private investors to explore opportunities across the sector, including nurseries, plantation establishment, processing, manufacturing, construction, furniture and energy.

Meru University of Science and Technology Vice Chancellor Professor Romanus Odhiambo said the conference themed, “Sustainable Bamboo for Climate Action, Economic Growth and Community Empowerment,” was timely, given the potential of bamboo to address unemployment, environmental degradation and economic challenges.

He said countries such as Ethiopia and Ghana had demonstrated that bamboo could generate employment and economic opportunities, and challenged Kenya to exploit its own potential.

The Vice Chancellor called on researchers to take greater interest in bamboo and urged universities, governments, communities and industry players to establish stronger partnerships.

Bamboo industry representative Victor Mwanga called on academic institutions to rethink engineering and mechanics courses to prepare for increased use of bamboo as an alternative source of materials traditionally obtained from timber.

Mwanga, who paid tribute to bamboo researcher Dr Bernard Kigomo, said bamboo had demonstrated its viability as a resource and required appropriate technologies to unlock its full potential.