Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has dismissed reports claiming the Nairobi County Government spent more than Ksh21 billion on lawyers’ fees, terming the allegations as misleading.
The clarification follows a social media post by Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi, who attributed a local newspaper alleging that Nairobi County spent Ksh21 billion on lawyers' fees, accounting for 70 per cent of its total legal fees.
In the post shared on his X account on Tuesday, January 13, Ahmednasir further claimed that a significant portion of the alleged multi-billion-shilling payments was corruptly siphoned back to City Hall.
"Nairobi City County alone is cited as having spent more than Ksh21 billion on lawyers' fees, accounting for over 70 per cent of total county legal expenditure during the period reviewed," Ahmednasir wrote.
He went on to add, "This is Haram! 80 per cent of such fees go back to City Hall and are 'eaten'.
In response to the lawyer, Governor Sakaja dismissed claims that the county had spent the said amount, stating that the Ksh21 billion refers to pending legal claims, not money already paid out.
"You would know the difference between a claim and money actually paid. Ksh21 billion is the debt owed to lawyers that we found in 2022 and deemed completely untenable," Sakaja clarified.
According to the county boss, the claims were inherited by the current administration upon assuming office in 2022 and were subjected to a comprehensive review.
He went ahead to reveal that no such amount has been paid, adding that the disputed legal fees have since been reviewed downwards by about half after a thorough scrutiny.
In his clarification, Governor Sakaja revealed that despite the downward revision of the amount, the money remains too high for his administration to clear.
"No such amount has been paid, and these claims have since been reviewed downwards by half. Still too much! We do not have that kind of money to pay," the Governor added.
Nonetheless, the matter has since sparked public debate among Kenyans over accountability issues in Governor Sakaja's administration, with some calling for swift auditing of the county expenditures.
