Mike Sonko, the Nairobi Governor is seeking legal action against Speaker Beatrice Elachi after a recent fallout. Speaking to the press on Thursday, April 30, Sonko’s spokesperson Ben Mulwa disclosed that the office of the governor was aggrieved by the speaker’s decision to gazette a law that the county boss had vehemently opposed.
Mulwa revealed that the document passed by the assembly was fraudulent and that it had allocated money to the newly constituted Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) including for services that were still under the county government.
“On the second day of April this year, the Nairobi City County Assembly sat and discussed a budget and as the governor made clear in his memorandum dated April 15, 2020, that particular budget was not authored procedurally and he highlighted those inconsistencies with the law in the memorandum that he sent to the county assembly.
“However, with very interesting levels of impunity, the speaker of the County Assembly, without even following the provisions of section 24 of the County Governments Act, went ahead to reject the governor’s memorandum and purported to return the original bill which was not only fraudulent but also allocated funds to functions that are still under the Nairobi County Government,” stated Mulwa.
He further noted that the speaker gazetted the budget passed by the assembly, therefore, which he argued contravened existing laws, a move he claimed was a first by any speaker of an assembly in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
The governor has initiated the process of terminating the deed of transfer of functions he signed with the national government.
A letter from County Secretary Justus Kathenge to the National Treasury on Wednesday, April 29, revealed that Sonko had directed him not to release any documents or information to facilitate the hand-over process as he had begun the process of terminating the deal.
On Monday, April 27, Elachi appeared to mock Sonko after he expressed disappointment in the deal he signed with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The speaker insinuated that the governor had failed by not properly reading the agreement document before signing away some of the functions from Nairobi County Government to NMS.
“There is no way, if I am a leader seated, I will open the page, I will read. Let them stand and wait. Read. If there is anything, you will say, I am signing, as we continue in the 21 days, I will relook into what we are doing and I will bring in my amendments,” argued Elachi at the time.
