Ward rep accuses City Hall lawyers of ‘just losing cases’

The Nairobi County assembly is calling for external legal services citing hefty financial losses as “City Hall in-house lawyers hardly win cases.”

The members now want the executive to develop a policy that will enable the outsourcing of legal services since “the county legal department has not won a case in years.”

Nominated MCA Silvia Museiya last week brought to the fore that despite millions being spent on the office of the county attorney, the county legal department was understaffed with only eight lawyers “leaving a lot to be desired in terms of legal representation.”

The office of the county attorney is inclusive of legislative drafters, legal personnel and constitutional experts.

“The county has lost many cases and resources due to lack of robust legal representation,” said Museiya through a motion tabled and approved last week. She was also concerned that the department failed to protect county resources and property of city residents.

While highlighting that the county assembly has passed several Acts which have not been published by the legal department as required by the Law, the first term MCA was confident that the introduction of the new policy would help the county address urgent cases and hire professionals who are up to the task.

“This assembly urges the county executive to develop an elaborate policy to provide for outsourcing of legal services to handle complex or time consuming cases and projects on a more affordable budget,” added Museiya.