• 20 assembly committees submitted 70 reports and MCAs had 992 sittings in 2020
• Nairobi MCAs have been complaining that the county executive has failed to implement 19 Acts passed by the assembly since 2013.
Image: MAUREEN KINYANJUI
City MCAs have put the Nairobi Metropolitan Service and the County Executive officers on the spot for dragging their oversight mandate by failing to respond to queries.
The legislators have threatened to take serious actions against 'lazy' officers who fail to attend county assembly meetings when summoned and those who give poor responses.
The Major General Mohammed Badi-led team has been accused of delaying to submit timely and satisfactory reports
The Executive led by Deputy Governor Ann Kananu has also been accused of being 'choosy' and has continuously failed to implement county assembly resolutions since the inception of the assembly in 2013.
This is highlighted in the report of the selectoral committee on Liaison on consideration of assembly committees Annual Report for the Fifth session February 4th to December 3, 2020.
“The Executive never implements at times recommendations made by the committee as it only implements what is favourable to them and disregards most of what the committee recommends,” reads the report.
The liaison committee is comprised of all the chairpersons of 23 committees.
Most of the committees reported that many requests done by members have not been responded to by the executive and NMS leading to slow absorption of business.
Currently, there are 57 pending statements that are yet to be responded to either by the executive or NMS.
Nairobi MCAs have been complaining that the county executive has failed to implement 19 Acts passed by the assembly since 2013.
They sought to know why lawmakers have been ignored and apparently dismissed, to the detriment of city operations.
Committees performance
Looking into the performance of 20 committees, it was revealed 70 reports were submitted and MCAs had 992 sittings in 2020.
The Finance, Budget and Appropriation topped the list by submitting eight reports while the women caucus committee did not submit any or even went for a single retreat.
The culture committee topped the list by having 90 retreats of various committees.
65 motions were passed last year, 25 bills and 60 statements given by MCAs.
The committee chaired by Ruai MCA John Kamangu observed that the biggest challenge last year was to coordinate meetings between NMS and Executive due to supremacy battles at that time.
When NMS came into office, former Governor Mike Sonko and NMS Director General Mohammed Badi were engaged in supremacy battles which at some point ended in the courts.
The supremacy battles were centred around credits of city projects, seconded county staff and budget allocations.
The productivity of most committees was said to have greatly reduced in terms of participation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Having suspended all physical meetings, the committee still lacked quorum despite most of them being held virtually.
“Members failed to log in virtually in the meetings which affected the proceeding of the committee,” reads the report.
Also, the committed were faulted for not tabling their reports on their retreats they held which may raise audit queries
As a result, the committee recommended that all Chairpersons crack the whip and invoke standing order 179 to members who fail to attend committee sittings.
Standing Order 179 gives the committee power to suspend a member after being given green light by the Speaker.
All committees were urged to fast track finalizing of the pending business and report on any impediments to their work to the office of the speaker.
The committee also recommended a meeting to be held with Deputy Governor and Major General on how best the county assembly resolutions shall be implemented.