• Sakaja and two others identified as shareholders in a Registrar of Companies document tabled before the Senate committee on county public accounts and investments.
• Governor Sonko and Sakaja have been feuding for months.
Image: FILE
A company partly owned by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja allegedly has not paid rates to the Nairobi City County Government amounting to Sh40 million.
The company, Seven Stars Media Limited, yesterday was identified in the CR12 Form tabled before the Senate Committee on County Public Accounts and Investment, which is chaired by Moses Kajwang.
The other two owners-shareholders are Ronald Kamwiko and James Omondi.
A CR12 is an official and legal confirmation or certificate by the Registrar of Companies indicating a company's details and directors and shareholders of a company.
The company is involved in outdoor advertising.
Speaking to the star on Monday, Sonko's communications director Elkana Jacob said the Sh40 million the debt has accumulated over six years.
“We have written several times to the Senator's office but we have not received any down payment on the debt,” Jacob said.
He released photos of what he said were Seven Stars Media billboards in Nairobi.
Jacob said that the county government will make sure that the debt is cleared.
The revelation comes at a time when rivals Sakaja and Sonko, have been head to head on county issues.
Sakaja and Sonko have been at each other's throats after the senator started asking why the county boss has not named a deputy governor after Polycarp Igathe resigned on January 31, 2018.
The county has been operating without a deputy ever since.
However, Sonko hit back at Sakaja when he appeared before the Senate's Devolution Committee on Wednesday last week to explain why he has failed to appoint a deputy, more than 15 months after Igathe resigned.
Sakaja did not respond to calls or text messages yesterday from the Star concerning the rates issue.
Last month, the national government was listed as City Hall’s biggest defaulter in payment of land rates.
The arrears have accumulated to Sh120 billion.
City Hall had accused the government institutions of deliberately dragging their feet in paying rates, hurting the annual revenue targets.
The Nairobi County Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee said the rate arrears could double if measures are not put in place to ensure defaulters pay.
The county government has since 2013 struggled to meet its targets from land rates. It has collected Sh12.9 billion against a target of Sh21 billion for the period since 2013.
The county has a Sh4.6 billion target from land rates for the year ending June 2019.
But it has only collected Sh206 million and Sh165 million in the first and second quarters of the year, respectively.
(Edited by V. Graham)