The National Assembly Departmental Committee on Sports and Culture has called for urgent action to resolve the outstanding bills accumulated in the State Departments and Agencies.

The Committee, chaired by Hon. Dan Wanyama, warned the Departments that hiding behind pending bills points to planning and budgeting inefficiencies.

Lawmakers made the remarks during a meeting to review Budget implementation reports for the Ministries, Departments & State Agencies (MDAs) FY 2025/26.

The State Departments for Sports, Culture, the Arts & Heritage and Youth Affairs & Creative Economy reported accumulated pending bills of Ksh. 2,176.80billion, Ksh. 42.54million and Ksh. 20 million respectively.

The State Department for Sports accounted for the largest share, with officials linking the figures to contractual commitments for ongoing stadium construction and rehabilitation.

The Committee heard that the outstanding pending bills include commitments for projects such as Kipchoge Keino Stadium, Kenya Academy of Sports phase 1B and the constituency Sports Academies.

However, the Department warned that failure to settle them could delay project completion and lead to court cases that could erode contractors' and suppliers' confidence.

Hon. Wanyama questioned the continued commitment to projects without adequate resources, urging the State Departments to strengthen their planning and budgeting.

"At what point do you go overboard and have projects that you can't pay? Maybe you are chewing more than you can swallow," said Hon. Wanyama.

The State Department for Culture, the Arts & Heritage Principal Secretary, Ms. Ummi Mohammed Bashir, assured the Committee that pending bills would be prioritised for the current fiscal year.

"The State Department commits to treat all pending bills as first charge in the current financial year," PS Bashir said.

Also revealing their strategies, officials from the State Department for Sports disclosed plans to prioritise verification of the pending bills and engage the Ministry of National Treasury & Economic Planning in providing adequate resources to facilitate the progressive settlement of verified obligations.

Members of the Committee stressed the need for State Departments to deal decisively with pending bills to prevent them from continuing to accumulate and affect project implementation.

"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," Hon. Wanyama said.

According to officials from the State Department for Youth Affairs & Creative Economy, the pending bills arose because the agency failed to meet its contractual obligations regarding staff medical insurance and Board expenses.

The Committee directed all State departments and their agencies to submit detailed reports to the Committee Secretariat outlining pending bills, stalled project funding gaps and proposed interventions.

The reports will form the basis for the Committee's further engagement with the National Treasury on additional funding and measures to ensure the settlement of verified pending bills and the completion of ongoing projects.