Solicitor-General Ken Ogeto has called for the gazetting of a contentious bill allocating Ksh15 billion to the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) to be revoked.
According to a report by the Daily Nation on Friday, May 8, Ken Ogeto stated the April 27 publication of the Nairobi City County Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2020 in the Kenya Gazette was irregular and unlawful.
Ogeto addressed a letter to Governor Sonko and copied it to the Attorney-General, Government Printer and Controller of Budget, informing them that the bill need not be published in the gazette while still pending before the Nairobi County Assembly.
"The Government Printer is accordingly advised to take note of the contents of this legal opinion and to remedy the situation by taking necessary action to revoke the purported publication," Ogeto stated.
The decision by Ogeto is reported to have been a result of Governor Sonko's protest letter, complaining that the bill was published against the law and thus needed to be revoked.
“The bill was sneaked to the Government Printer by unknown people, notwithstanding the fact that the office of the governor alerted the Government Printer that it had not completed the necessary legislative process,” he wrote to Ogeto.
The Solicitor-General agreed with Sonko's assertion and directed that the assembly needed to muster a two-thirds majority to pass a bill a second time without incorporating the governor’s reservations.
“Consequently, in our reading of the law and in light of the facts provided, the bill cannot be deemed to have been assented to, following the expiry of the period stipulated for assent, as it was not passed by the assembly with a two-thirds majority as required by the Act,” he stated.
Nairobi County Assembly passed the bill on April 2, 2020, but Sonko declined to assent to it and accused the MCAs of allocating funds to functions that were not transferred to the NMS.
He returned the bill with reservations to the assembly on April 15, 2020, but Speaker Elachi, during a special sitting on April 17, set aside his memorandum and returned the bill to him for assent.
The bill was published on April 27 after the expiry of the seven-day period provided for in the law.
