The national government will from Tuesday take over four vital functions from the Nairobi county government.
It is, however, not clear how many staff members have been seconded. As highlighted in the deed of transferred functions, county staff in the affected departments will be seconded to the national government.
Last month, the national government announced it will take over health, transport, public works, utilities and ancillary and planning for two years (renewable). The national government made an unprecedented decision to take over the functions of Nairobi county because of the chaos and mismanagement it suffered.
Salary projections for 2019-20 for the transferred sector are health (Sh5.1 billion), public works, transport and infrastructure (Sh655 million), urban planning and lands (Sh330 million) and urban renewal and housing (Sh82 million).
On Friday last week, City Hall employees threatened to go on strike to stop the planned transfer of county functions to the national government.
At least 12,000 workers claimed they had been sidelined in the decision to transfer county functions.
The Star has established that a meeting is scheduled on Tuesday involving the Devolution Ministry, the county government of Nairobi and workers' representatives.
The transfer deal was signed by Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa, on February 25 in the presence of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Signing of the agreement pursuant to Article 187 of the Constitution was also witnessed by Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka and Attorney General Paul Kihara.
Sonko was last December charged with corruption and abuse of office in the loss of Sh357 million and subsequently blocked from accessing his City Hall office.
Revenue collection
The Kenya Revenue Authority is set to take over revenue as it was appointed as the principal agent for overall revenue collection.
A county official who did not want to be named said it was not clear how the authority would take over the revenue collection.
"The bit of KRA only collecting revenue for the transferred functions is a bit confusing, because what will it imply to the remaining sectors? Does it mean that the rest will continue with National Bank of Kenya ?" the official questioned
A series of meetings between the authority and the executive have been held since last month for proper consultation.
County assembly chairman of the budget and appropriationcommittee Robert Mbatia said the legislators had not been involved or updated on the outcome of the meetings.
"On our side, we have not heard of any official communication, but we are aware of the meetings between the executive and KRA. But we need clear information because the public needs to be informed on how they will be paying revenue after the takeover," he explained.
According to the Constitution, a function or power of government at one level may be transferred to a government at the other level by agreement between the governments if:
(a) the function or power would be more effectively performed or exercised by the receiving government; and(b) the transfer of the function or power is not prohibited by the legislation under which it is to be performed or exercised.
