Through a Gazette notice, Sakaja said that the purpose of the committee is to address the matter of pending legal bills claimed against the county government.
“Pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya, the County Governments Act, 2012 and the Public Finance Management Act, 2012, I, the Governor of Nairobi City County, establish a committee to be known as the Committee on the Review, Scrutiny and Verification of Pending Legal Bills,” reads the notice.
The committee shall be chaired by city lawyer Kamotho Waiganjo. Sylvia Mueni Kassanga will deputise Waiganjo.
Waiganjo is the husband of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru while Mueni is a former nominated senator.
Other members include Law Society of Kenya president Eric Theuri, Aldrin Ojiambo, Dulma Farah Mohamed, David Kabeberi, Dickson Mwenze, Elias Mutuma, Jackson Onyango, Emily Chelule, Victor Swanya and Wangechi Wahome Ng’ayu.
The committee will also have a joint secretariat led by Beatrice Auma Otieno and Francis Njoroge.
In the performance of its functions, the committee will be expected to have access to reports of any previous investigations relevant to its mandate and submit monthly progress reports, and a final report to Governor Sakaja.
Within three months, after scrutiny and analysis of the county government’s stock of legal pending bills (or such longer period that the Governor may authorise), the committee will submit to Sakaja a report with recommendations for a settlement of the said pending bills.
The Waiganjo-led committee within four months will also submit to the governor a final report detailing recommendations towards the streamlining of the procurement of legal services within the county government and ensuring that future escalation of pending legal bills is avoided.
Also, in consultation with the governor, the committee will have the power to co-opt any person or to appoint sub-committees as it deems fit only for specialised aspects of its terms of reference.
According to the notice, the secretariat of the committee will be based at the City Hall and shall be responsible to the committee for providing appropriate background briefing and preparing the committee’s reports and disseminating any information deemed relevant to the committee.
“The Secretariat of the Committee will also undertake research and liaise with the relevant National and Nairobi City County Government Departments and any other institution to gather relevant information necessary for the Committee,” reads the notice further.
In January 2021, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission started investigations on the payment of legal fees to 26 law firms by City Hall.
In a letter dated January 21, 2021, the anti-graft agency asked the county secretary to furnish it with the specific case files handled by the 26 law firms between 2013 and 2020, including details of the cases, letters of instructions and contract agreements.
“The commission is undertaking investigations at the Nairobi City County in respect of payments of legal fees to the following firms,” reads the letter.
Also, the county assembly has over time lamented and raised concerns over money paid to legal firms.
In the 2016-17 financial year report, the then Auditor General Edward Ouko was concerned by the money that the legal department spent, citing Sh592.4 million in unauthorised payments.
In the period under review, the department’s legal costs were Sh645.3 million against the approved budgetary allocation of Sh105 million.
According to the report, the department paid 12 law firms Sh314.4 million.
The money was spent outside the Integrated Financial Management Information System.
Documents before the County Assembly Legal and Justice Committee showed that 335 cases were handled by the legal department, with only 12 of them successful in the same period. The rest were either withdrawn or lost.
Pending bills at City Hall have been every governor’s worst nightmare, putting the county on the spotlight and attracting investigative agencies.
In 2019, Nairobi MCAs raised concerns that the county government spent huge sums on external lawyers, which prompted them to demand the development of a policy on outsourcing legal services.
It was noted then that the office of the county attorney had eight lawyers and still hired expensive external advocates.
From former governors Mike Sonko to Anne Kananu, payment of legal pending bills appeared to be an impossible mission.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
