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Government says it owes media houses Sh332m for ‘MyGov’ circulation
Broadcast and Telecommunications Principal Secretary Edward Kisiangani. A document Mr Kisiang’ani presented to the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly indicates that Sh873.11 million was owed to the media houses as at June 30, 2021.
The government says it owes print media outlets in the country Sh332.3 million in pending bills for circulating MyGov, which is published by the Government Advertising Agency (GAA).
This comes as the MPs piled pressure on the government to clear the bills to forestall any lay-offs due to depressed revenue. The Media Owners Association, however, put the figure at Sh1.2 billion, inclusive of services rendered by the electronic media, cleared for payment.
A document State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunication Principal Secretary Edward Kisiang’ani presented to the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly yesterday, indicates that Sh873.11 million was owed to the media houses as at June 30, 2021. Of this amount, the PS said Sh522.68 million had been settled as at February 21, 2023.
“These pending bills have been historical but we are raising revenue to have them settled. For now, GAA depends on the funds released by the Treasury to clear the bills,” said Prof Kisiang’ani.
MyGov is a pull-out that contains government advertisements and content and is circulated weekly in the Nation, Standard, People Daily and The Star newspapers on a rotational basis.
According to the document before the committee, Nation Media Group is owed Sh177 million, Media Max Network which owns People Daily is owed Sh77.81 million, Standard Media Group Sh73.93 million and Kenya Year Book Sh3.5 million.
Committee members David Kiplagat (Soy) and Garissa County Woman Rep Amina Udgoon questioned why the government is not keen to pay the media houses. Ms Udgoon said the delays show a lack of fiscal discipline by the government.
However, the acting GAA director Michael Okidi explained that the delays in clearing the bills had been occasioned by Sh303.78 million arrears owed by the state agencies for advertising services.