A couple of Nairobi County MCAs yesterday termed the takeover of functions by the national government an indictment for their performance, saying City Hall should be dissolved.
This, even as Speaker Beatrice Elachi tabled the Deed of Agreement signed between Governor Mike Sonko and Eugene Wamalwa at State House on Tuesday.
In a dramatic turn of events, some of the ward legislators yesterday supported the move by the National Government to take over four key revenue earning departments but also blamed themselves for failure to keep the county executive in check, leading to a collapse in service delivery.
During the debate of a Motion of privilege tabled by nominated MCA June Ndegwa, assembly Minority leader David Mberia urged the national government to dissolve the entire county government, saying most of the members had been turned into Sonko’s sycophants.
“This County Government needs to be dissolved so that we can teach the sycophants a lesson that instead of trooping to the governor’s office for handouts they should have been working to serve those who elected them,” stated Mr Mberia.
Mberia, who doubles up as Karen Ward MCA, was concerned that his colleagues had negated their oversight role on the Executive, leading to a drop in revenue collections.
Data relayed by City Hall indicated that as of January, only Sh268 million in building approval revenue collections had been banked, compared to Sh714.7 million collected in the 2018/2019 fiscal year at a similar time.
Kahawa West MCA Anthony Ng’ang’a, while calling for Sonko’s impeachment, termed the actions of the president a warning shot to the members aimed at telling them to get their house in order.
“Let us do what is right for once because the county depends on it,” he said. Umoja Phase One MCA Mark Mugambi admitted to have failed in his mandate, saying the future of the county assembly was no longer guaranteed.
“We decided that we cannot decide for ourselves and we let other people think for us. Up to 90 per cent of us will not be reelected because we have failed our constituents,” said Mr Mugambi.
Nominated MCA Mary Arivisa pledged support for the takeover, but said the assembly should not have waited for the president to intervene.
“If we do not perform the national government will have no choice but to dissolve City Hall,” she said.
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