Mike Sonko has won the first round in his fight to regain all the power in his fiefdom of Nairobi county. The Nairobi governor was handed a victory after the court declared the Nairobi County takeover deal between Governor Mike Sonko and President Uhuru Kenyatta illegal.
The decision will have a lot of fallout as it puts the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) – a product of the deal – in a legal dilemma.
The order was issued by Justice Hellen Wasilwa who noted that the failure to seek the approval of Nairobi County Assembly rendered the deed of transfer document and subsequent appointments unconstitutional.
Justice Wasilwa, in her judgment yesterday, also found that the document signed by Sonko, and which the governor later claimed not to have read before signing, did not provide for NMS as a partner to the county.
She said the deed of transfer was vague on how the takeover would happen and who was to do what in the arrangement.
The judge gave the government 90 days to regularise the takeover but declined to halt NMS’ operations during the 90 days.
“Already functions have been transferred and funds have been allocated to NMS. A lot has taken place and it would not be fair to the public to issue the orders prayed by the petitioner. If the State does not regularise the process, lawyers should come back for the issue of orders,” she ruled.
Funny thing is that the case itself was filed by Okiya Omtatah at the Employment and Labour Relations Court. The case was supported by Sonko, who agreed that the agreement should be made null and void citing frustrations by people close to the president.
Although the judge found there were errors in the pact, she declined to halt NMS’ operations during the 90 days.
Instead, the judge said should the 90 days lapse before NMS operations were regularised, then Omtatah, Sonko or any other party could go back to court to seek a halt of NMS’ operations.
