Cash strapped Nairobi County seeks court protection from creditors

NAIROBI, KENYA: Nairobi County on Monday drew a legal fight against contractors by filing a suit seeking to block any payment for services rendered to it for six months.

The Mike Sonko led county moved to court claiming that it cannot pay the contractors Sh 60 billion without ascertaining that there were legitimate claims.

According to the county’s lawyer Elias Mutuma, the city county will require at least six months to carry out an internal audit before embarking on a process to pay contractors.

Governor Sonko admitted that the county is cash strapped owing to debts it inherited from his predecessors.

In the court papers, the county claims that it cannot barely meet its monthly obligations as well as settle debts accrued over the years.

“The Nairobi City County is experiencing financial constraints that have made it difficult for the county to meet its monthly obligations as well as settle debts accrued by its predecessor and particularly settle the decretal sums issued against it,” court papers filed on Monday read in part.

“Nairobi City County has huge amounts of debt accrued from the previous administration and the said amounts cannot be settled immediately owing to the governing laws on appropriation of public funds before use.”

He claimed that there are hundreds of warrants of arrest against the county officials for failure to meet its end off bargain.

According to the county chief, the running of his government might go into disarray if his lieutenants are jailed for the sins that were committed by previous offices.

Sonko claims: “Arresting and detaining the County Secretary and Chief Finance officer has the potential of bringing to a standstill or throwing into disarray the functioning of Nairobi City County, including payment of creditors, contrary to public interest and policy.”

In the court papers, Sonko claimed that creditors have gone ahead to attach County assets in order to recover their dues.