Sonko rejects Uhuru’s Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority

Nairobi County Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has said that the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport order made in 2017 is unconstitutional and invalid.

The County Assembly of Nairobi has, similarly, never been formally notified of any such suitable agreement in contravention of section 26(5) of the Inter-governmental Relations Act 2011.

According to court documents filed in court by lawyer Phillip Nyachoti, the appointment of board members of the Authority vide Gazette Notice no.1240 of February was unconstitutional since there was no absence of any formal legal agreement between the parties authorising the same.

“The attempt to comply with section 26(4) of the Inter-Governmental Relations Act, 2011 by introducing a Bill before the National Assembly in the form of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority Bill which was tabled in Parliament in October 2017 was never successful as the bill was preliminarily rejected and as such the National Assembly approval has never been granted,” read the court papers.

Sonko was replying to a case in which Wanjiru Gikonyo, KATIBA Institute Director, has faulted the legal notice creating NAMATA because it reduces county revenue.

Gikonyo claims the legal notice issued last year provides for financing of the joint authority in a manner that may affect counties other than ones included in Nairobi Metropolitan.

“The order creates a third party at the table of division of revenue which isn’t provided for by the constitution,” she states.

Gikonyo is seeking suspension of NAMATA on grounds that no element of public participation was involved