Sonko assents to Nairobi City County Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2020

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has assented to the Nairobi City County Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2020.

The Bill was passed on Tuesday by the Nairobi County Assembly and brings to an end a two-month standoff over funding with the newly-established Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).

“In the current budget, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services has been allocated Ksh. 2.25billion for recurrent expenditure, and Ksh. 1.25 billion for development expenditure for the period ending on June 30, 2020,” Sonko said.

The Governor said he signed the Bill because he prioritized the interests of residents of Nairobi instead of ‘petty politics ‘.

In what is a change of tune from April when he claimed that he would withdraw from the agreement between City Hall and the national government, Sonko now says:

“Everybody MUST follow the law, especially those tasked with the implementation of the Deed of Transfer from the National Government.”

On April 22, the Nairobi Governor made a u-turn on the Nairobi take-over deal saying he would move to court to terminate it.

According to him, some Government officers had hijacked the process with the aim of embarrassing and frustrating him.

An irate Sonko took to Twitter saying: “May the Lord punish all the senior gov’t officers at the O.P who gave instructions for the Kibra, Kencom and Buruburu sanitization booths erected by Sonko Rescue Team to be vandalised by police.”

His post was accompanied with pictures of PS Karanja Kibicho and County Commissioner Wilson Njega.

The online onslaught continued with Sonko posting subsequent messages laden with insults against the two.

In a statement to newsrooms on the same day, Sonko said: “I will not sign in fact this is the time to terminate the transfer of functions deed. To date I have not been furnished with a copy of the deed.”

However, on Wednesday, June 3, 2020, the Governor backtracked saying all Kenyans should put politics aside.

“Article 187 (2) (b) vests responsibility of the transferred functions with the Nairobi City County Government, and I wish to assure you all that my administration remains committed to delivering services to the great people of Nairobi,” he said.