Bunge La Mwananchi defends Sonko over corruption, mismanagement claims

Nairobi Governor, Mike Sonko.

Bunge La Mwananchi has come out to defend Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko over his conduct and development record.

The move comes after Nairobi MPs led by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja addressed the media on Thursday, calling for an audit to be done on Sonko’s administration, citing alleged mismanagement and corruption.

Addressing the press at Jevanjee Gardens today on the state of Nairobi, the movement said Sonko has “never had any problem with accountability.

“If anything, he is one of the most transparent leaders in Kenya today, constantly updating the people of Nairobi on the plans, activities and developments in Nairobi through mainstream and social media, alongside other constitutionally provided platforms,” said Bunge La Mwananchi President John Mark Ababu.

The movement lauded Governor Sonko for reducing the wage bill according to Controller of Budget(COB) report of the year 2018/2019 financial year.

“They would have noticed that the Nairobi County wage bill reduced from Sh14.94 billion, a whooping 60.5 per cent of the entire 2017/2018 budget, to Sh13.74 billion, representing a 46 per cent drop in 2018/2019.This is in line with Governor’s commitment to comply with the recommendations of the COB to reduce wage bill to within 35 per cent as required by the public finance management regulations of 2015.There is no doubt that this will eventually free up more money for development and expenditure,“ added Ababu.

They group also said that according COB, the Nairobi County Ward Development Fund Unit recorded the highest absorption rate of development budget at 100 per cent in the financial year 2018/2019.

“It is therefore pedestrian for these leaders to claim that there is no development on the ground yet there is no single ward in Nairobi without an ongoing or completed County project. Majority of these MPs we saw at a press briefing are fugitives in the constituencies and are now using Governor Sonko as a scapegoat to cover up for their failures and gross mismanagement of National Government Constituency Development Fund(NGCDF),” said Lawrence Oyugi, in charge of defense, who also lauded Sonko saying he has constructed 123 Km of roads in the last two years within the County and more in are in the pipeline.

The group said they have plans to activate their grassroots network to audit the performances of these Nairobi MPs and urged Sonko to ignore the “noise makers and focus on service delivery and transforming Nairobi.”