City Hall betrayal: Like Sonko, Sakaja now seeking NMS-like deal from State Househanging over Sakaja

A deal struck on Tuesday in the corridors of State House could see Nairobi County cede some key functions to national government.

Dubbed the shared responsibility formula, the deal will cover garbage collection, public works, road construction, and water supply.

And now, questions abound whether the development is a betrayal of Nairobians or a survival tactic for Governor Johnson Sakaja.

During his annual County Assembly Address yesterday, Sakaja described the arrangement as a partnership, insisting the county’s core functions remain.

“The functions bestowed upon us by the Constitution will remain county functions. We shall not transfer them,” he said.

The Governor maintained the arrangement was unlike that of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), saying the agency was disruptive, damaged the staff morale and left the county with about Sh16 billion pending bills.

However, The Standard established that President William Ruto's national government has formally entered into an agreement with the county administration, citing binding provisions under the Urban Areas and Cities Act, 2011.

This was the same statutory instrument President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration used to justify the creation of the NMS and the installation of Maj Gen Mohammed Badi as the de facto administrator of the capital.

A meeting to pass the resolution chaired by President Ruto was also attended by Sakaja and his chief executive committee members.

On the President's side were Housing PS Charles Hinga, his Roads and Energy colleagues Joseph Mbugua and Alex Wachira, and Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir.

Others present included chief executive officer of Nairobi Rivers Commission Brigadier Joseph Muracia, commissioners Mumo Musuva and Lt Col Kahigu Njoroge, who is the project manager for the Nairobi Rivers Regeneration Project.

The agreement is currently being prepared and the signing ceremony will be held next week.

Details from the meeting indicate that the national government should engage the county administration on joint operations, administrative structures, and funding mechanisms.

Under the plan, planning and infrastructure, water and environment departments, key cogs within the county government, would get "help" from the national government.

The meeting also agreed that both levels of government collaborate in maintaining efficient transport networks and decentralising services where practicable.

The plan is said to have started in September last year when MCAs devised a plan to impeach Sakaja. The Governor then got a reprieve following intervention from President Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga, who instructed MCAs from their respective parties to halt the proceedings.

Ruto met with UDA members at State House while Raila engaged with party's MCAs at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation, persuading them to pause the Motion.

According to insiders, another law the team used to ratify the agreement is Chapter 12 of the Constitution on Public Finance. Articles 202 and 203 allow county governments to seek additional allocations "from the national government’s share of the revenue, either conditionally or unconditionally.”

If this deal is structured like the NMS one, Governor Sakaja will be left with control of less influential departments like ICT, education, sports, agriculture and livestock, trade and cooperatives.

When NMS took over from Governor Mike Sonko, it took control of Sh27.1 billion for the transferred functions, which is more than two-thirds of the county government’s annual budget, with Sonko left with Sh8.4 billion.

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, who is eyeing the gubernatorial position, said the move has left Sakaja with little more than the responsibility of paying salaries.

"Nairobians elected a Governor to deliver services, provide leadership, and take responsibility, not to abdicate duty at the first sign of difficulty," he posted on social media.

His Embakasi Central counterpart, Benjamin Gathiru, said the Governor does not understand the problems affecting the majority of those who voted for him. He claimed Sakaja was armtwisted following President Ruto's intervention to save him last year.

"The national government is looking for an opportunity to siphon public funds, and the best place this can take place is in Nairobi," he said. "This means, going forward, Nairobi residents will have to be vigilant so us to elect someone who understands their problems." 

Nairobi South Ward Rep Waithera Chege claimed the move portrays Sakaja's failure in steering the city.

"Implementation started earlier, this is just formalising. We have already issued our roads, the street lighting power is being done by the national government," said Deputy Minority Leader.

"I think this Governor rode on the issues of the party popularity and I feel like he didn't have any vision for Nairobi. He has lost it, completely. The county went down a long time ago. Even the small things we have been doing have been facilitated by the national government."

However, former city mayor, Godfrey Majiwa, said such arrangements must be tabled in the county assembly and be subjected to public participation.

“Sakaja has failed the same way Sonko failed, that is why we are hearing such things,” he said.

But the Governor yesterday defended the move. In a social media post, Sakaja declared reports of a new cooperation agreement as “fake news. No functions or roles ceded".

Some MCAs also denied the Governor had handed over his functions.

“We have had issues with garbage during (former Governor Evans) Kidero. We've had issues with garbage during Sonko, during NMS. So what the President is saying is that he is coming in personally. I think the governor is very clear that it is not a takeover; it is a collaboration," said Minority Leader Anthony Kiragu.

He said the county has a budget of about Sh1 billion a year, which is a quarter of what is required.

Coming just over a year to the General Election, Sonko’s debacle now hangs over Sakaja. It contradicts Sakaja’s vision when he took the oath of office promising that he would never allow any ceding of functions during his tenure at City Hall.

The move has also revived the debate on whether Nairobi is too big to be left to a governor.

The resources that followed left little doubt about where authority now resided. NMS walked away with Sh27.1 billion in budgetary allocations, consuming more than two-thirds of what Nairobi County had to spend. Governor Mike Sonko was left to preside over Sh8.4 billion and a collection of residual departments—ICT, Agriculture, Trade and  Sports.

Personnel followed the money as more than 6,800 City Hall employees were marched across to NMS over Sonko’s objections, leaving the governor with a workforce of barely 4,000 from a previous establishment of 11,603. 

This has however, left a trail of questions whether Nairobi is too big to be a county or needs a quick thinker who can solve current challenges dogging the city including garbage, health, and water roads abd transport mess.

The new development contradicts Sakaja’s vision when he took the oath of office promising that he will never allow any ceding of functions during his tenure at City Hall.

In fact, days after being sworn in around September 2022, he oversaw the transfer of functions from the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) back to Nairobi County.

Nairobi Metropolitan Services was formed around 2020 during the reign of governor Mike Sonko who was forced to hand over key functions of the county in health, transport, public works, and planning to the national government following a leadership crisis at City Hall.  

The transfer of functions ceremony then was witnessed by former President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House.

NMS leadership was placed under the leadership of army man, Director-General Lieutenant General Mohamed Badi who steered up to the 2022 general elections then he handed back all the duties to governor Sakaja.

This was supposed to allow Sakaja to have access to full powers to perform functions related to the county’s health, transport, and ancillary services as well as projects involving Nairobi’s public works, physical planning, and development.

When Sakaja took over the city leadership, he dropped contractors who were collecting garbage in the city but over time the city has been sliding into filth.

She however said unlike the NMS deal, the national government's takeover of some key functions is a strategy to make the functions of the county government work even without defining laws like what happened during Sonko's time. 

"The national government will implement these laws in partnership with the county. But of course, even as at now, it is the national government that has been implementing these laws," the MCA said

This she described as a raw deal to the electorate who voted for Sakaja but seemed to have thrown the towel midway.

 "I don't think Governor Sakaja has ever meant well for Nairobi County. Because we have time and again from year one up to today, sat him down and he comes to say, I apologize, I apologize, I'm going to do better," she said 

The MCAs and Sakaja's fallout started sometime last year culminating in plans to impeach him towards December 2025 but this was thwarted following intervention by President William Ruto and former Prime Minister, the late Raila Odinga.