- Lydia Kwamboka's services were terminated barely a week after she appeared before the Legal committee to shed light on the payment of pending bills
- In a letter dated August 7, 2023, Acting County Secretary Patrick Analo said the county had appointed an acting county attorney and that Kwmboka should officially hand over.
Image: FILE
Controversy has hit the Nairobi County Government over the sacking of County Attorney Lydia Kwamboka.
She received her sacking letter on Monday, August 7, barely a week after she appeared before Nairobi County Assembly Justice and Legal Committee where she expressed her frustrations by some officials from the Finance Department.
While appearing before the Committee, Kwamboka said some officials at the Finance department were frustrated with how the county should handle legal pending bills.
She told the committee that she had written an advisory to the finance department, that they should focus on paying law firms that are owed a small amount of money amounting to Sh60 million.
She told the committee that instead, firms that are owed huge amounts were prioritised with the county paying a total of Sh1.4 billion.
The Legal department headed by the county attorney had prepared a list of firms owed small amounts.
“We go through the legal files as the legal department and once we are satisfied, we forward the file to the finance for payment. It is the legal department that has the mandate to decide which companies are to be paid not finance,” Kwamboka told the MCAs.
She also told the committee that a number of legal files had disappeared from the legal department’s civil registry. She said some of the vanished files ended up at the finance department and payment was effected without approval of the legal department.
She said she wrote a memo dated August 2, 2023, to the Chief Officer of the finance department asking for clarification on payment criteria.
“We would like to understand the criteria used by your office in determining matters to be paid despite the sector having a budget to settle the small matters and what happened to the allocated budget,” reads part of the letter which she tabled before the committee.
The committee chair Jared Akama said the committee will this week summon top officials of the Finance Department to shed light on the payment of the pending bills.
But even before the committee concludes its hearings on the matter, Kwamboka on Monday received a letter terminating her services.
In a letter dated August 7, 2023, Acting County Secretary Patrick Analo said that the county had appointed an acting county attorney and that Kwmboka should officially hand over.
“We are grateful for the service rendered to the county during the transitional period following the lapse of our Employment contract dated October 1, 2019, on December 31, 2022. The office of the county attorney and legal sector has grown and continues to be a critical arm of the county executive,” the letter reads in part.
Analo indicated that Kwamboka's contract expired on December 2022 and that she had been assisting in the transitional period.
"Following the appointment of an acting county attorney, you are now requested to officially hand over," Analo said.
He added that her terminal dues will be computed as provided in her employment contract.
The controversy on Kwamboka's contract and when it was supposed to expire has deepened after it emerged that former Governor Ann Kananu had extended it for another 6 years effective July 13, 2020.
This means that her contract was to expire in July 2026.
The letter by Kananu dated July 20, 2022, addressed to Kwamboka reads “ Your term of service has been extended accordingly to six years with effect from the commencement of the Office of the County Attorney Act 2020 i.e July 13, 2020."
The former governor cited The Office of the County Attorney Act, 2020 when extending Kwamboka's contract.
According to the Act, a county attorney is supposed to serve for six years.
Section Four of the Office of the County Attorney’s Act, 2020, provides for the office of the county attorney and requires that the officeholder be appointed by the governor, with the approval of the county assembly.
Kwamboka was vetted and her name was approved by the assembly in April 2018.
Five months later on September 19, 2018, Kwamboka, alongside three county officials, was suspended by former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.
Barely a year after suspension, she later made a comeback at City Hall with Kananu extending her contract to run until 2026.
On Tuesday Kwamboka told the Star she was working from one of the county boardrooms after her offices were locked. She said she has since stopped going to her former office after she was informed that the locks had been changed.
When reached out for a comment, Governor Sakaja said the matter touching on Kwamboka's contract was in court.
A petitioner, Caroline Wambui took Sakaja and the county to court regarding Kwamboka's contract.
She argued that there had been inordinate delay by the Respondents ( Governor and county government ) in lawfully filling the office of County Attorney since December 2022.
The petitioner argues that it was then that the mandate of the former office (Kwamboka) lapsed and the Office of the Nairobi City County Attorney fell vacant.