The Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) has turned to Parliament for help in recovering more than Sh251 million owed by government institutions, saying years of unpaid bills are putting pressure on its finances and affecting day-to-day operations.
The appeal came as KLB officials appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education, which is reviewing Auditor-General reports covering the bureau’s financial statements from the 2018/19 to the 2024/25 financial years.
Audit reports show KLB is owed Sh1.05 billion in trade and other receivables. Of that amount, Sh251.5 million has remained unpaid for more than 90 days, raising concerns over the bureau’s ability to recover outstanding debts.
The money is owed by a range of public institutions, including universities, schools, county governments and national government agencies that purchased books and learning materials from the state publisher.
Committee chairperson Dick Maungu, the MP for Luanda, said recovering even part of the outstanding debt would ease the bureau’s financial strain.
“If you recover even a fraction of these debts, you will be able to pay salaries for some of your staff,” Maungu told KLB officials.
Lawmakers questioned why some debts had remained unpaid for years, with some dating back nearly a decade.
Moses Kirima, the MP for Central Imenti, dismissed KLB’s argument that legal time limits had made recovery difficult.
“It shows a lack of seriousness. If you have a legal adviser, they should know that courts can extend time to enable recovery where necessary,” Kirima said.
MPs also rejected KLB’s proposal to write off a Sh921,000 debt owed by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), insisting that every possible recovery effort should be exhausted before public funds are written off.
Maungu warned against what he described as a growing tendency among state agencies to abandon debt collection in favour of write-offs. He urged KLB to strengthen its recovery efforts and said Parliament would closely monitor progress.
KLB Managing Director George Okeyo told the committee that recovering money from fellow government institutions has proved especially difficult because the bureau has limited powers to compel payment.
“If we are allowed by the government to take drastic action against fellow government institutions, we would do so. We have used all the avenues available to KLB over the years, but we have failed to recover these debts,” Okeyo said.
Assistant Finance Manager Kenneth Adongo said delayed payments remain one of the bureau’s biggest operational challenges.
He told MPs that the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) alone owes KLB more than Sh1.3 billion, making it difficult for the bureau to settle its own suppliers and maintain normal operations.
Adongo also pointed to frequent curriculum changes, saying they leave booksellers with unsold textbooks worth millions of shillings, adding further strain across the education publishing sector.
Okeyo said KLB has since created a dedicated credit control unit to monitor sales and follow up payments more closely.
The committee directed KLB to provide documentary evidence supporting its claims and announced that it would summon the Council of Governors to explain unpaid debts owed by county governments to state agencies. The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury is also expected to appear before the committee to explain delays in settling government payments.
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