Government will prioritize pending bills; Treasury to create Sh 500 bn bond, Rigathi says

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. [Mose Sammy, Standard]

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has divulged details on how the government will pay the pending bills.

In an interview on KTN News, Rigathi disclosed that the William Ruto led government is keen to offset the bills running into several hundreds of billions of shillings.

"To start with is that when money is available, because right now there isn't money; we have inherited a Sh 500 bn debt in pending bills and we don't want to borrow money. That is why we cannot have a subsidy for fuel. You cannot borrow to subsidize consumption," said Rigathi.

According to the DP, treasury will create a bond to solve the stalemate.

"We have discussed with the treasury and we are looking at the possibility on how to create a bond to raise money to pay the pending bills. If that is successful and I am sure it will succeed, if we inject Sh 500 billion and pay all the people with pending bills, that will be an economic stimulus intervention. Money will circulate in the economy and the ripple effect will be felt by everybody," said Rigathi.

The deputy president said this move will address stalled projects as well.

"All the stalled projects where contractors have stopped working because of non-payment will get back and continue. The net effect is that all the people working on these projects will get employment and that will turn around the economy," said Rigathi.