Sonko rejects Ksh 25M City Hall inauguration party

Nairobi Governor-elect Mike Sonko has rejected a proposal by the county assumption of office committee to set aside Ksh 25 million for his inauguration ceremony and has instead directed the cash be used to settle the one month arrears owed to the county staff.

Speaking to the press after a meeting with union officials, Sonko ordered County Finance Officer Luke Gatimu to pay the workers in the next 48 hours.

“I have met with the different stakeholders and we have agreed that the workers will be paid before I officially take over as the Nairobi County Governor,” Sonko said.

The meeting was attended by the County Finance Officer Luke Gatimu, Nairobi Staff Branch Boniface Waweru and vice chairman Kennedy Malimo.

The assumption of office committee in its proposal had allocated Ksh 11.1 million for public health, Ksh 6.3 million for security Ksh 2.4 million to fuel VIP cars, Ksh 2.7 million for works and Ksh 2 million for documentation.

Sonko is the Governor-elect of Nairobi County after garnering 848,712 votes (53.6%) in last week’s polls beating his closest challenger Evans Kidero who garnered 677,083 votes (42.76%)

This move may boost Sonko’s accountability record as county boss since Nairobi has been rocked by numerous corruption scandals in the past most notably when Chief Finance Officer Jimmy Kiamba and Chief Accounting Officer Stephen Osiro were dismissed in July 2015 after they failed to convince the County Government of their innocence following corruption charges levelled against them by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) which linked them to procurement scams.