Conflict as central government pulls strings at City Hall

Governor Mike Sonko at City Hall. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Is Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko becoming a toothless county boss? That’s the question on the lips of observers following recent developments.

Last week, the heavy hand of the national government was seen when President Uhuru Kenyatta chaired a meeting dubbed ‘regeneration’ of Nairobi. According to State House, the multi-billion shilling programme, being executed by the national and county government, will focus on key economic and social sectors.

Sonko, his deputy Polycarp Igathe and nominee for County Secretary Peter Kariuki led the Nairobi team at the meeting. Igathe and Tourism CS Najib Balala co-chaired the technical committee of the special taskforce on Nairobi.

“The programme focuses on housing, infrastructure and transport, energy, water, environment, youth, women and persons with disability. Other sectors are land and ICT,” State House said following the November 8 meeting.

Before this meeting, sources say the national government pushed for the appointment of Kariuki, who works in the Cabinet Office, as Sonko’s County Secretary. He attended the Harambee House meeting as a representative of the county although he has not been formally appointed yet. 

Fearing that he had lost control of the county, Sonko asked the County Public Service Board to create and advertise the position of deputy county secretary, which is slated for one of his key allies who had been eyeing the county secretary slot.

“The boss wanted to confirm Acting County Secretary Leboo ole Morintent but other dynamics played out. He has to find something for him,” an aide close to Sonko said.

Other than the county secretary, Sonko’s 10-member County Executive Committee (CECs) members were also largely influenced by senior national government officials.

List of nominees

On the day he sent the nominations to the assembly, Sonko met with a senior Jubilee official to fine tune the list.

Of the nominees, Sonko had personal contact with only four while two powerful Jubilee leaders pushed for appointment of the other six. “Four of the nominees were not known to the governor. He only saw their names for the first time. The other two had only interacted with Sonko at Jubilee campaigns,” the source added.

Yesterday, Sonko declined to comment on the issue, only saying he was working well with the national government.

Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja said it is in public interest for Nairobi County to work closely with the national government. “The national and county governments are distinct but mutually interdependent. Nairobi contributes about 60 per cent to the country’s GDP. It is important to collaborate to make the city more efficient,” he said. “Devolution is not a competition but about serving people,” Sakaja argues.

Nairobi lawyer Nelson Havi said what was happening at City hall was not surprising because it fits into Jubilee’s plan to ‘kill’ devolution. “You remember that even before we want to the polls, Jubilee wanted to introduce a law to place Nairobi County under the national government just like it happened in the 80s when the then City Council was placed under the Nairobi City Commission,” he said.

“What they are doing now is unconstitutional. There are functions allocated to each level of government. What you are seeing is the President calling a meeting and sitting as governor. Basically, they want to kill devolution and they are using Nairobi as a test before rolling it to other counties,” Havi claimed.

Legal question

Makadara MP George Aladwa, who is a former mayor, said: “Under which legal regime can the county and national governments re-align their procurement procedures and budgets? This is a kin to the county government surrendering its powers to another authority.”

Critics are wary that should the experiment on Nairobi work, nothing could stop future governments from ‘taking over’ other counties.

“Our fear is that tomorrow, the same will be extended to Nakuru or say Mombasa on the guise of the strategic importance of such counties to the national government. In the end, devolution will have been killed slowly but surely,” a governor who sought anonymity, said.