Bernard Bett, board director of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), has asked counties to expedite the settlement of pending bills to enable smooth service supply.
Bett said the counties owe Kemsa over Sh3 billion in debts.
Speaking in Baringo County during a free mosquito net distribution exercise on Tuesday, Bett said they are still engaging the counties to assist them clear the pending debts.
The distribution is being done by the Ministry of Health through Kemsa in collaboration with Global Fund and the counties.
Bett however said Baringo County was fairly doing well, adding that they were still engaging the rest of the counties.
“We are happy that we are making progress in engaging the counties. Our order fill rate is still at 60 per cent. We are hopeful we will get those debts cleared. By the end of the year we shall be somewhere close to 90 per cent,” he said.
“We are reaching out to the Council of Governors and individual counties to ensure that they pay the debts so that our operations can move forward.”
As at May 2024, Kilifi owed Sh276.62 million, Nairobi owed Sh243.79 million, Machakos owed Sh117.41 million, while Kitui and Tharaka Nithi had yet to pay Sh116.37 million and Sh150.27 million, respectively.
Other counties with huge debts were Homa Bay Sh104.81 million, Vihiga Sh94.42 million, Meru Sh85.34 million, Mandera Sh82.93 million and Garissa Sh82.73 million.
Counties that owed the agency the least amount were Kisumu Sh328,008, Makueni Sh74,879, Kiambu Sh2.06 million, Kericho Sh6.63 million, Mombasa Sh7.31 million.
