NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 30 – Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has declined to furnish the National Treasury with the Deed of Transfer of critical county functions to the newly created Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) including data on human resource, pending bills, list of assets and liabilities, vote book balances and pay bill numbers.
The refusal in a letter dated April 29 is the latest in escalating tensions between Sonko’s administration and the metropolitan authority led Maj Gen Abdalla Badi.
Nairobi County Secretary Justus Kathenge said he was under instructions from Sonko not to provide any information, with the Governor accusing the National Government of breaching the terms in the agreement inked in February.
“This is to inform you that am under firm and clear instructions from His Excellency the Governor not to provide any related information. This is due to consistent and persistent breach of the terms of the Deed of Transfer of Functions,” the letter released on Wednesday read.
The Governor also reiterated his plan to terminate the deed of transfer of functions to the national government, citing frustrations from unnamed officials at the Office of the President.
“Be informed that H.E the Governor has initiated the process of pulling out of the arrangement to revert the functions back to Nairobi City County,” the letter stated.
Sonko, who surrendered four key functions including health, transport, planning and utilities to the national government on February 26, has since retreated alleging that he signed the deed documents before reading them.
The Governor has since accused the said senior officials at Harambee House of instigating the vandalism on sanitization booths which he had erected in Kibera, Buruburu and Kencom within the Central Business District in measures to combat the coronavirus which has so far infected close to 400 people in the country out of which 126 have recovered and 15 died.
President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Maj Gen Abdalla Badi to head the authority, deputized by Enos Onyango Momanyi.
Sonko has had a frosty relationship with NMS, tensions escalating in recent weeks over the redeployment of 6,000 City Hall workers to the newly created agency.
He also rejected the Nairobi County Supplementary Appropriation Bill which soght to allocate more than Sh15 billion to NMS for county functions which were transferred to the national government.
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