Sakaja faces Impeachment as MCAs lament Bursary Delays, Corruption and Incompetency

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja could face an impeachment motion after a section of MCAs vowed to start collecting signatures.

Led by Kariobangi North MCA Joel Munuve, the MCAs are blaming the governor for bursary delays, corruption and incompetency.

According to the legislators, the governor has failed to demonstrate capacity to run the city.

They are also accusing him of misusing funds aimed taming environmental pollution, and the influx of cartels at City Hall.

“He is going home if this continues and I am personally going to lead signature collection to impeach him,” Munuve said.

They gave the governor 24 hours to release bursary funds or face their wrath.

Korogocho MCA Absalom Odhiambo alias Matach said Sakaja and his finance  officials have  only 24 hours to release the funds failure to which they will paralyze  operations at City Hall.

“CEC Finance Mr Kerich was here last Friday and told us  clearly  that this money is there and will be released promptly up to this moment nothing to show.” He said.

Gatina MCA Kennedy Swaka said Sakaja is taking MCAs for a ride by playing hide and seek games while at the same time promising ‘heaven’.

“The governor is playing  ping pong games with our  minds and we have to put an end to this,” Swaka said.

The MCAs remarks come a few days after Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai hit out at Governor Johnson Sakaja for presiding over what he termed as unprecedented massive corruption and impunity at City Hall.

Alai scoffed at  Sakaja’s thanksgiving ceremony held on Sunday 26th November, 2023, terming the event as a platform by the governor to try and hoodwink city residents against the escalating level of corruption and alleged incompetencies exhibited by some of his officers.

According to Alai who shared a live video on his social media accounts,the event turned into a forum of heaping praises to Sakaja even as the county’s revenue collection system remains shrouded in secrecy.

Alai reiterated that Governor Sakaja has no full control of the revenue collection system and that the national government through the National Intelligence Service was allegedly in charge.

“The fact that the governor claims the NIS is collecting revenue is shameless. The governor does not even know who is collecting revenue,” Alai ranted.

He claimed that various departments at the county do not even have printing papers, operations at Pumwani Hospital are  horrible and further laughed off the governor’s decision to change Umoja Level II hospital into  a Mama Lucy Hospital Annex.

Alai  added that Sakaja’s incompetency makes him worse than former governor Mike Sonko.

“I have never seen such an incompetent guy.Sonko is better a million times,”

Interestingly the ad-hoc  committee that was established in September 2023 to look into the Revenue Collection System in Nairobi has already poked holes into the revenue system.

The committee has  announced its going to begin its sittings on December 13th.

The  ad hoc committee had already declared the current status of revenue as below par and would duel more on establishing possible revenue diversion in its sessions.

Imwatok has already declared  the state of revenue collection in Nairobi as one shrouded in secrecy.

He criticized the governor for  praising the collection of Sh10 billion in the last financial year,stating that the county should be collecting more than Sh 18billion as of now.

The impeachment threats come at a time several county officials have been on the radar of investigative agencies over corruption dealings.

Apart from County Executive committee member for finance Charles Kerich who is facing the wrath of MCAs, Richard Mugoko head of procurement, others being trailed secretly by detectives include, Martha Wambugu the deputy County Chief Finance Officer among others, who have allegedly supervised fake invoicing and other dealings.

Also serving under a mystery of confusion and are being monitored closely includes, Vivian Mavua, Beth Muthoni, Brian Oyando, Ambrose Musau, Denis Muia the one who does work plans for CoB processing, Stephen Mafura, Mary Maina, Peter Gitau from procurement among others.

Another scenario that is being investigated separately is the circumstances under which Harry Mwakasi was re deployed.

There is also still a lot of mystery on the circumstances under which former head of investigation by the name Birech lost his position.

In another shocking revelation, a letter dated 10th November, 2023 from Chief Officer Disaster Management and Coordination Bramuel Simiyu to Chief Finance and Economic Planning, detailed how a number of irregular and unauthorized transactions were made on the IFMIS platform that affects the sector budget.

A case in point as per the letter is commitment of Ksh 15,658,500 invoiced from the fire fighting and rescue development expenditure.

The letter revealed how  officers at the county are using all manner of tricks to conduct business not under their area of appointment.

The procurement department has been under sharp criticism from suppliers and contractors over bribery and irregular tender awards.

MCAs are also poised to probe possible hiring of  unqualified persons working as  accountants at the county.

Some media reports have also unmasked how interns are being used by seasoned staff to loot millions of taxpayer’s money as well as take bribes from unsuspecting contractors and suppliers.

This comes against the backdrop of reports that some senior people in the Kenya Kwanza government are protecting senior officers at City Hall from possible arrests over corruption related activities.