The State Department for Sports has been put on the spot over more than Sh2.2 billion in pending bills, with MPs questioning why the government continues to commit to projects without setting aside enough money to pay contractors.
The National Assembly Sports and Culture Committee raised the concerns on Friday as it reviewed budget implementation reports for the 2025/26 financial year.
The committee heard that the State Department for Sports has accumulated pending bills of Sh2.176 billion, largely linked to ongoing stadium construction and rehabilitation projects.
The outstanding commitments include projects at Kipchoge Keino Stadium, the Kenya Academy of Sports Phase 1B and constituency sports academies.
Committee chairman Dan Wanyama warned that the government risked delaying key projects and losing the confidence of contractors if the bills were allowed to continue piling up.
“At what point do you go overboard and have projects that you can't pay? Maybe you are chewing more than you can swallow,” Wanyama said.
The MPs said the growing bills pointed to weaknesses in planning and budgeting, questioning the logic of starting or committing to new projects when funds to complete existing ones were not available.
Sports officials told the committee that failure to clear the bills could delay the completion of projects and trigger court cases, further increasing the cost to taxpayers.
The department said it would first verify the pending bills before engaging the National Treasury for more funding to allow for their gradual settlement.
But MPs demanded a clear plan, saying they did not want the same bills carried forward from one financial year to another while projects remained stalled.
“We want to see these pending bills properly verified and addressed because we cannot continue verifying forward bills every financial year while projects remain incomplete,” Wanyama said.
The Sports department accounts for the bulk of the pending bills flagged by the committee.
The State Department for Culture, Arts and Heritage reported pending bills of Sh42.54 million, while the State Department for Youth Affairs and Creative Economy reported Sh20 million.
Culture, Arts and Heritage Principal Secretary Ummi Mohammed Bashir told the MPs that her department would prioritise the settlement of its pending bills during the current financial year.
“The State Department commits to treat all pending bills as first charge in the current financial year,” Ms Bashir said.
Officials from the Youth Affairs and Creative Economy department said their outstanding bills arose after an agency failed to meet contractual obligations relating to staff medical insurance and board expenses.
The committee said the different explanations offered by the departments pointed to the need for tighter controls over commitments and better coordination between project planning and the budget process.
MPs directed the state departments and their agencies to submit detailed reports showing their pending bills, stalled projects, funding gaps and the measures they propose to take.
The reports will be used by the committee as it engages the National Treasury on additional funding and a plan for settling verified bills.
The scrutiny comes at a time when the government is under pressure to complete major sports infrastructure projects while also preparing facilities for international competitions and continuing with stadium rehabilitation works across the country.
For the committee, however, the immediate concern is whether the government can afford the projects it has already committed itself to.
Wanyama said departments must stop allowing unpaid bills to build up year after year, warning that poor planning would ultimately leave taxpayers paying more through stalled projects, legal disputes and rising construction costs.
The committee is now seeking detailed figures from the departments before deciding on its next course of action, including possible engagement with the Treasury over funding for the projects and settlement of the verified bills.
