Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja appeared before the Milimani High Court today to answer contempt of court proceedings over his alleged failure to appoint a substantive County Secretary, nearly eight months after a December 2025 judgment directed him to do so.
Sakaja, who personally attended the proceedings before Justice Gregory Mutai, did not address the court.
Instead, his lawyer, Adrian Kamotho, told the judge that the governor had taken steps to comply with the judgment by appointing Godfrey Akumali as Acting County Secretary and forwarding his nomination to the Nairobi County Assembly for vetting and approval.
The contempt proceedings stem from a High Court judgment delivered on December 5, 2025, which found the prolonged acting appointments to the office of County Secretary unconstitutional and ordered the governor to initiate a competitive recruitment process before submitting a nominee to the County Assembly for approval.
"An order of mandamus compelling Sakaja to, within 60 days, initiate a competitive recruitment process for the position of County Secretary and submit a nominee to the County Assembly for approval within 30 days after the expiry of that period," the 2025 judgement reads in part.
The contempt applications were filed by petitioners Kasichana Riziki Mumba and John Saidi Nyanje through their lawyer, Dr. Owiso Owiso, who argued that the governor had failed to comply with the court orders.
The first application, filed on March 9, 2026, seeks to have Sakaja cited for contempt for allegedly willfully disobeying the court's orders.
The second application, filed on June 22, 2026, targets the Akumali, arguing that his continued stay as Acting County Secretary for about 22 months violates the six-month statutory limit on acting appointments under the County Governments Act and lacks the requisite approval of the County Assembly.
Both applications seek sanctions, including the possible committal of Sakaja to civil jail.
In his submissions, Owiso argued that the respondents, led by the governor, could not rely on the County Assembly's recess to justify the delay, maintaining that the governorhad failed to comply with the court's directives within the prescribed timelines.
Kamotho, however, urged the court to find that Sakaja had acted in good faith and that the timelines should be interpreted in light of the County Assembly's legislative calendar.
"If you were to look at the actual timeline, the Assembly went on recess seven days later. What does that dictate? That the time ceases to run. The Assembly only came back from recess a week ago. So the 30 days in which the governor had concluded his processes will only start running today," Kamotho submitted.
He argued that allegations of willful disobedience were therefore unfounded.
"As such, the willful non-compliance is questionable. We will not contend on the issue of knowledge because the governor indeed confirmed publicly that he was aware of the judgment. The only issue is the computation of the 30 days," he said.
Kamotho further told the court that both the governor and the Acting County Secretary had appeared voluntarily out of respect for the authority of the court.
"As a law-abiding citizen, the demands of Nairobians notwithstanding, both His Excellency the Governor and the Acting County Secretary have appeared before this court with a clear conscience that they ascribe to the authority of this court," he submitted.
He maintained that the governor had made every effort to comply with the judgment, citing correspondence between the governor's office and the Nairobi County Assembly on the recruitment process as evidence of continuous efforts to fill the position.
"We have already demonstrated through the evidence that there has been consistent effort towards compliance," Kamotho said.
He also argued that the written judgment was uploaded after the date it was delivered, a factor the court should consider in computing the timelines.
"The petitioners have confirmed that the judgment never became available on the date of delivery but was uploaded later. Therefore, when it comes to the issue of computation of time, those realities must be borne in mind," he submitted.
Counsel for the Nairobi County Assembly, Kokebe Kevin, also appeared in the matter.
The petitioners maintain that Nairobi County has operated without a substantive County Secretary for more than seven years, contrary to the law.
After hearing submissions from all parties, Justice Mutai reserved his ruling to September 30, 2026.
