UPDATE: Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has refuted claims by NMS that he denied them access to Ksh 250 million. In a statement issued on Tuesday, September 29, Governor Sonko accused NMS of perpetuating impunity and undermining his leadership.
"I find it strange and ridiculous that they have been throwing around funny figures to entertain the public while creating the impression that I have “refused” to fund the NMS. The NMS is full aware of the fact that there is no law in Kenya that allows a County Government to finance the operations of the Office of the President where they are domiciled.
"As such, resorting to cheap blackmail will not solve the legal challenges before us, and trying to paint my administration as failed will not cure their incompetence. To this day, nobody knows whether the NMS operates bank account(s), who the signatories are, where their funding comes from, and how they account for such monies. The question is, is the Nairobi City County Government supposed to wire money to Major Badi's personal accounts or his M-Pesa??? And which law allows that," Sonko ranted.
Sonko further heaped blame on NMS Badi for the incident where a mother gave birth outside Pumwani Hospital.
The tussle between Governor Mike Sonko and Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) boss Mohammed Badi has escalated over the allocation of health funds.
Information made public after a ceasefire between the two parties showed that NMS had been locked out of bank accounts loaded with over Ksh250 Million meant for the provision of health services in the county.
Appearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Officials from NMS led by Deputy Director-General William Kangethe and NMS director for health services Josephine Mbae stated that signatories to the bank accounts were yet to be changed.
This, they claimed, was despite health being one of the functions that were transferred to the institution.
"Ksh 127M of the sum is held in the Special purpose account (SPA) of the county in the Central Bank meant to benefit health centres is still held by the county and the signatories to the account have not been changed to officers of NMS mandated to execute the function of health," Kangethe revealed to the committee on Monday, September 28.
Another Ksh126 Million was held at the County Revenue Fund which NMS could not access for the provision of health services in the county.
The NMS officials appealed to the Controller of Budget and the Senate to compel Nairobi County to release money meant for the provision of healthcare services.
The body also accused City Hall of irregular transfers of health officials in different institutions leaving gaps in service delivery.
Provision of Health services came into question after a woman was forced to give birth outside Pumwani Hospital after she was turned away by guards during a nurses' go-slow.
The body apologised for the incident and revealed that changes had been effected at the security desk.
NMS boss Badi had in June pledged to build 24 fully functional hospitals in Nairobi’s informal settlements particularly at Viwandani, Majengo, Mathare, Kayole, Soweto, Korogocho, Kawangware, Gitare Marigu, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Kibera and Githurai 44.
In the plan, Dr Mbae explained that 19 out of the 24 health facilities would be built from scratch while the rest would be rehabilitated.
“10 out of the entire hospitals to be built will be level 2 hospitals and the rest will be level 3 hospitals” she stated.
