Treasury Suspends Payment of All Government dues Over Coronavirus

The Government through the National Treasury has suspended the payments of all dues owed to individuals and other entities as the country continues to fight the covid-19 pandemic.

Making the announcement on Wednesday, April 1, 2020, the Controller of Budget said that only salaries meant for government employees will be processed during the Covid-19 crisis.

The Government said that the decision was reached to ensure there are enough attention and resources channeled towards the fight against the Coronavirus.

“This is to inform you that the National Treasury and Planning has put on hold all commitments, payments, and claims as the country assess the resource requirements for Covid-19 interventions,” Controller of Budget (CoB) Margaret Nyakango in a memo.

According to CoB Margaret Nyakango, the budget has been reorganized to accommodate the unanticipated Covid-19 crisis which has now hit the country.

“As you are aware, Covid-19 has come with requirements not initially anticipated in the budgets. For that reason, after establishing the costs, our budgets will be reorganized through a supplementary budget in line with the PFM Act. My internal memo was done in the spirit of informing staff of the goings-on, a promise that I made to them earlier.”

Earlier the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) had told the Government and counties to revise and reduce their budgets for at least three months to accommodate the adverse effects the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The institute acknowledges that the cost of the proposed Covid-19 stimulus and incentive package will be steep. However, the cost of inaction might be more severe,” advised ICPAK chairperson Rose Mwaura.

Due to the continued increase in the number of Covid-19 in the country, the government has been forced to come up with avenues of raising funds including pay cuts of state officials.

The Government has therefore decided to suspend over 18 billion shillings owed by state ministries to individuals and other entities to focus on fighting the virus.

So far, Kenya has reported 81 cases of the covid-19 virus with 22 cases being reported on Wednesday, April,1,2020, the highest to even been recorded since the first case on March,13.