Sonko Sues KRA Boss, CBK Governor

Nairobi County Government, under the leadership of Governor Mike Sonko, has filed a lawsuit against Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Director General James Mburu.

According to a report by Business Daily, the county demands that the two bosses be committed to civil jail for withdrawing Ksh4.49 billion from the county’s recurrent expenditure account.

In the court documents, the county, through lawyer Cecil Miller, claimed that it had obtained a court order stopping the taxman from making the withdrawal and protested that KRA went ahead anyway.

The lawyer further argued that KRA's move was aimed at causing economic sabotage and forcing the county government into giving in to its’s demands

CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge addresses the press on Tuesday, November 26, 2019.

He further noted that the withdrawal violated the Public Finance Management Act, since the controller of the budget did not approve the transaction.

The lawyer insinuated that the taxman's action was to blame for the mayhem being experienced at City Hall, because the county was unable to meet monthly salaries and recurrent expenditures.

High Court Judge Pauline Nyamweya, on Monday, December 2, ordered the two bosses to file their responses to the application.

The case's hearing is slated for Tuesday, December 17.

Nairobi County has had a months-long running battle with the taxman over failure to remit more than Ksh4.5 billion in taxes.

In September 2019, the governor met with KRA officials to explain how money deducted from county employees as PAYE, and from suppliers as withholding tax, was not surrendered to the revenue authority.

KRA Boss Githii Mburu appears before the the Senate Justice and Legal Affairs Committee at Parliament on March 13, 2019.