Ruto allies rush to save Sonko, take on Kenyatta

A battle for the control of Nairobi has erupted within Jubilee Party, with allies of Deputy President William Ruto opposing its takeover by the national government.

Besieged Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko, who is facing a Sh357 million graft charges and an impeachment motion, has been a Ruto ally.

Ruto has previously made attempts to have the graft charges dropped, according to multiple sources. 

The transfer of four critical county functions to the national government on Tuesday, in a ceremony witnessed by President Uhuru Kenyatta, yet again brought down another Ruto man.

The move comes just three weeks after former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu, a close Ruto associate, was impeached in a humiliating fashion that exposed deep-seated divisions in the ruling party.

In a strongly-worded statement in the Senate yesterday, Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen dismissed the Sonko-Uhuru deal as illegal. 

Murkomen said that the arrangement will leave Nairobi a shell of a county.

The senator who represents Sonko in the graft case lamented an emerging pattern where governors are arrested, charged in court, barred from office and subsequently impeached.

“It is now evident that this has now moved to the next level where the functions of a county government can be largely, and more or less in whole, transferred to the national government. The county government is literally left as a shell with no functions to perform,” Murkomen said.

“The effect of this is that it provides a hitherto unknown method for the winding up of county governments", Murkomen said. 

It was not immediately clear whether Sonko was coerced to sign the deal.

Murkomen cited lack of public participation, the non-involvement of the county assembly and the Senate as among reasons the deal is unconstitutional.

“Having transferred the large majority of the functions of the Nairobi City County government, do we then need a governor for that county?

“Do we require a county Executive Committee, and significantly what is the fate of committee members and their staff responsible for the functions that are sought to be transferred? 

“Do we need a county assembly?  What role remains for the county assembly to perform?” he asked. 

As the Majority leader, Murkomen should champion the government’s agenda in the House.

However, he has recently come under fire for allegedly sabotaging the President’s agenda.

Several senators supported the government’s takeover of the Nairobi. 

Siaya Senator James Orengo termed the county as dysfunctional.

“What is the status of the city government of Nairobi? It is dysfunctional right from the beginning. How did we get here? This is the only county that does not have a deputy governor. In the constitutional arrangement and structure, that position is a constitutional requirement. In fact, the Constitution requires that the DG is the deputy chief executive officer of the governor,” Orengo said.

Nairobi’s Johnson Sakaja said he has brought the matter of the trouble in the county to the Senate several times but nothing has happened.

“Services have continued to deteriorate. Services have stopped because the governor was facing charges. The residents have suffered. Remedial measures were needed in this city,” Sakaja said supporting the takeover.

He went on, “The actions that have been taken. For instance, today we are talking about a broken-down health system in Nairobi. There are no drugs in hospitals. People are dying because of the broken-down system. In planning, constructions worth Sh160 billion have not been approved."

Yesterday details emerged of how the national government intends to run Nairobi county.

It will take charge of revenue collection and management of staff working under the departments Governor Mike Sonko handed over.

The governor, in an agreement signed between him and Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa, surrendered Health, Transport services; Planning and development services; County public works, utilities.

Article 187 of the Constitution states that such functions or power may be transferred if they would be effectively performed or exercised by the receiving government.

To streamline revenue collection, the Kenya Revenue Authority has been identified as the collector of parking fees, cess, land rates, penalties among other revenue.

City Hall staff of the affected departments will also be transferred to the Public Service Commission in a move that has sparked anxiety among employees.

The monies collected by KRA would be deposited in both the Consolidated Fund and the County Revenue Fund.

“Financing for the transferred functions shall be drawn from either or both the Consolidated Fund and the County Revenue Fund,” a gazette notice detailing the agreement signed at State House, Nairobi on Tuesday states.

President Kenyatta’s administration will also set the costing ceilings for the functions, albeit in consultation with the county government.

 The only guiding principle is that the budgetary allocation will not be less than the amount last appropriated by the county assembly.

However, the focus would be on how the county’s resources can be best utilised to help in the execution of the transferred functions.

On staff, a shake-up is looming amid revelations the national government would develop a new structure for executing the functions.

“The national government shall prescribe and establish an institutional framework for the execution of the transferred functions,” the gazette reads.

Much as the staff would be retained, their reporting lines, especially for the county executive members, will change.

The County Public Service Board is expected to develop tools that would define the redeployment.

Changes are likely to follow, with plans for a capacity assessment of the existing staff. The performance of the functions will be reviewed annually.

A Capacity Assessment Review Report is expected to be issued to guide the county and national governments in developing a training programme for weak areas.

For target setting, the two entities will harmonise the relevant sector performance contracts and service delivery indicators.

Lawyers have raised concerns on the handover process and how it would be implemented.

Core to their concerns is who the MCAs would oversight in the new arrangement.

Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi, in a tweet, asked whether the governor got legal counsel before the radical move.

“Now that he has abdicated formally, when will the people of Nairobi elect a governor of their choice?” the lawyer asked.

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo read the move as one that technically dissolved the Nairobi administration.

But the agreement stipulates that the county assembly will formally receive the Deed of Transfer of Functions for purposes of approval.

The gazette notice detailing the agreement shows that there is still a long way for the agreement to take effect in the next 21 days.

Both the county assembly and Parliament will also be receiving an annual report on the implementation of the deal which would be reviewed every two years.

The national government will also be at liberty to enter into partnership agreements with other agencies in the implementation of the new dispensation.

Uhuru’s administration took over the functions following concerns the city management had internal constraints which hindered it from operating effectively.

“It has the requisite capacity and competence to perform the transferred functions,” the agreement, reached to give residents full effect of the benefits of devolved functions, reads.