City Hall’s legal department on the spot over ‘exorbitant’ fees

A member of the county assembly has protested at the allocation of Sh196 million to City Hall's legal department.

Makongeni MCA Peter Imwatok also accused the department of paying hefty fees to specific law firms contracted by the county government.

Yesterday, the MCA opposed the Sh196 million allocation to the department for this financial year, claiming the department paid huge sums to certain law firms to handle small cases.

He said two law firms were paid Sh35 million for representing City Hall in a case that he said lasted less than 30 minutes.

“The issue is the lawyers were in court for less than 30 minutes and were asking for Sh35 and Sh45 million for a preliminary case. It’s sad that the county was ready to pay before the end of the financial year,” Mr Imwatok said.

Last Thursday, the MCA pressed the justice and legal affairs committee chairman, Jayendra Malde, to give a statement on the particulars of all cases for 2018.

Using the recent case where he sued the county over alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical services, Imwatok sought to know how much was paid or was due to two firms that represented the civic authority.

The majority chief whip, Chege Mwaura, however accused Imwatok of trying to settle personal scores since he was a litigant in the case and demanded that he declare his interest.

“We all know there is rot in that sector. A dangerous trend is creeping back where private lawyers collude with officials to have litigation matters issued upwards of seven law firms or lawyers,” Mr Mwaura said.