NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 23 – Nairobi Town Clerk John Gakuo has now turned the heat on Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa saying he is part of a syndicate out to rip the council of billions of shillings through fictitious claims from suppliers.
At a press conference on Monday, Mr Gakuo denied claims of mismanagement levelled against him by the Mayor a week ago and instead argued that he had instituted transparent spending at the council in his four year tenure.
The Town clerk regretted that the Mayor and a team of councillors were obstructing the council from carrying out its mandate.
“What they usually do is that they connive with people, concoct some supplies and promise to push the payments for them in exchange of some kickback,” a visibly angry Town Clerk stated.
“I tell the Mayor and his people that those debts will not be paid because they are concocted in River Road. They will pay these debts when I am not in City Hall.”
The Town Clerk insisted that the Sh31 billion debt the Mayor made reference to was inherited from his predecessor at the council and was not as a result of mismanagement on his part.
He estimated that the council collects an average revenue of Sh7 billion annually besides receiving a vote from the Local Authorities Transfer Fund.
“I changed the system of spending here. We only allocate money to projects with the revenue we have collected. We have paid for them all these projects you see all over,” he told reporters.
During his tenure at City Hall, Mr Gakuo has been in the frontline of refurbishing the image of the city by instituting street lighting projects, roads repairs, improving security and beautification programs.
But this has been clouded by a battle for supremacy pitting the two senior officers at the helm of the council’s leadership. Last month the Mayor led a group of councillors in trying to forcibly evict Mr Gakuo from office. The Town Clerk has however remained put with conflicting reports on the status of his contract.
Reports had indicated that the contract expires this month and Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi had insisted it will not be renewed.
Mr Mudavadi had said that the position would be advertised and a Town Clerk recruited competitively. Mr Gakuo however refused to divulge details of his contract.
“I know I am here today and I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. The end of my term is when I am not seated here. What is going to happen the next minute I cannot tell you,” Mr Gakuo said choosing to remain non-committal if his contract had been renewed.
Mr Gakuo further denied there were any ghost workers in the council.
“Those who have been advocating for a recount of staff… their main aim is to find out how many vacancies in the various cadres so that they can push for the employment of their friends and relatives through the relevant authorities,” he said.
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