Nairobi County Assembly MCAs on Tuesday, January 7, 2020, demanded the removal of Finance CEC Pauline Kahiga after failure to facilitate their December salary payment in time for the Christmas holidays.
According to a story by Daily Nation, Kahiga was accused of delaying the processing of Ksh56 million for the ward representatives and assembly staff.
MCAs blamed Kahiga of refusing to sign and forward all necessary documents that would have allowed the release of the cash by the Central Bank of Kenya.
“We went for holidays without salaries, reason being that the CEC deliberately refused to sign and forward a form to Central Bank to release the money to pay our salaries.
“She chose to pay herself and staff in the Executive but not us and our staff. This is a mockery yet we are the ones who appropriate the funds the Executive uses to run their affairs,” remarked Majority Leader David Mberia as quoted by the Daily Nation.
Majority Chief Whip June Ndegwa also accused Kahiga of having an ulterior motive that continued to create a difference between the county Executive and Legislature.
“She is incompetent. How do you go on holiday without paying people their salaries? We are aware that she came back and paid the Executive and this just shows how MCAs are degraded,” lamented Ndegwa.
According to Nairobi County Speaker Beatrice Elachi, they reached out to the CEC on December 24, 2019, to effect the payments but she allegedly left without communicating to the assembly on the issue.
Further, the speaker indicated that the Executive has no right to deny the lawmakers their dues, adding that they will not be blackmailed or intimidated while carrying out their oversight role.
“Why should the CEC for Finance fail to sign Form C which is needed for [the] money to be released by CBK? We looked for her on December 24 but she left without giving a word to the assembly in regard to the payment.
“The Executive should not impose duties and oversight us. We are mandated to oversight them,” remarked Elachi.
However, acting County Secretary Leboo Morintat refuted Elachi’s claims, laying blame on the Nairobi County Assembly clerk.
“The assembly have their own account but they just requested us to help them with the salaries. However, the request coincided with the holidays. The problem is the clerk, as he did not hand over the assembly’s IFMIS credentials after he was removed from office,” remarked Morintat.
