Kenya Prisons Owe 2,900 Suppliers Over Ksh 6 billion In Debt

More than 2900 suppliers are out to demand payment of 6.2 billion shillings of debt owed to them by the Kenya Prisons Service.

The traders who met in Nairobi on Feb 16, 2020 claim that the Government has not paid them for the last six years even after President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a directive on the same.

Ms. Margaret Moraa, who is one of the suppliers, said that some government officials are accusing them of being fraudulent instead of addressing their concerns.

“We supplied goods and services to the government and expect them to pay us. The President has already issued a directive on this and we wonder why the Ministry of Interior and National Coordination is reluctant to pay us despite assurance by Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i that we are paid by January 30, this year. ”she said.

“We want our money and nothing else. We did our part and therefore we should not be punished at all,” added Ms. Moraa.

One of the suppliers from Kisumu said she was punished for demanding payment from the Government as she was jailed for 30 days. The same government that owes her money is the same one that is judging her in court.

“I was to pay my supplier Sh1.2 million but now I have to pay Sh1.6 million after the supplier took me to court. I was jailed and still, I have to pay the cash yet the government is watching all these happenings,” said Ms. Ngesa, a supplier from Kisumu.

The suppliers blame the Correctional Units Permanent Secretary Zainab Hussein for playing dumb to their cries instead of being supportive and pushing for their payments.

PS Zainab Hussein had stopped the payments of debts owed to suppliers back in 2018 after the Kenya Prisons was under the scrutiny of payment to ghost suppliers. The PS claimed that some debts were not payable after a team of auditors reviewed them.

PS Hussein affirmed that only suppliers who could verify their transactions would be paid and those who will not be paid, have the doors of the courts opened for them.

“We will, of course, pay those we can and ask the ones we cannot verify their claims to go to court.”

Kenya has a rich memoir when it comes to debts owed to traders, foreign countries and firms!