High Court Judge Anthony Charo Mrima on Monday, December 7, ordered Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko to halt a Ksh27.5 billion payment to the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS).
In his ruling, the judge maintained that the funds should not be released until a case filed by Governor Sonko's government challenging the allocation of the funds to NMS is heard and determined.
"A conservatory order suspending the implementation of the Nairobi City County Appropriation Act, 2020, is hereby issued. For clarity, the 11th and 14th respondents are restrained from disbursing any funds on the basis of the Nairobi City County Appropriation Act, 2020. The order shall be in force for 10 days,"
"Parties are at liberty to file and serve any responses and/or further responses to the Amended Petition within 7 days," the ruling reads in part.
On November 8, Sonko sued the Nairobi County Assembly over what he termed as colluding with “State House controllers” to sneak in irregular allocations to the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) in the county’s 2020/21 budget.
In October, the governor refused to assent to the Nairobi City County Appropriations Bill, 2020, that had allocated Ksh 27.1 billion to NMS for transferred functions, namely health, transport, public works and housing.
He then accused Members of the County Assembly of transferring funds to NMS for functions still under his government, citing the transfer of Ksh1.6 billion to the NMS for payment of salaries of inspectorate officers as well as a further Ksh 629.1 million for the public finance management.
“The law is clear that only the County Executive Committee can submit budget estimates even for the transferred functions as per section 7 of the County Allocation of Revenue Act, 2020 (CARA),” Sonko's lawsuit reads in part.
The governor is on record stating that he was ready to die if need be, reiterating that he would never fund an illegal entity.
“Kill me! There's life after death where my late father and our beloved founding father of the Republic of Kenya the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta are resting in peace,” he said during a zoom meeting held by a special Senate Committee to resolve the NMS funding stalemate on November 16.
On October 22, it was announced that more than 6,800 NMS employees would have to wait longer for their salaries after the National Treasury declined to release money for payment of salaries.
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani declined a request by the Major General Mohammed Badi-led office to release the funds until the dispute between the agency and Governor Mike Sonko is resolved.
In a letter addressed to NMS Director General Badi, Yatani said there was no legal framework in place to facilitate such a transaction and that the funds can only be remitted to the Nairobi County Government (NCCG) Revenue Fund Account and not to NMS.
