Sonko foot-dragging trumped by law in row over Sh1bn kitty

Nairobi Metropolitan Services will be free to access the Sh1 billion kitty set aside for Covid-19 interventions in the county starting tomorrow.

NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi was allocated Sh1.025 billion by the county assembly on April 2 through the Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2020 to respond to the pandemic.

The money, allocated under the Disaster and Emergency Fund, will be used to buy hand sanitisers, masks and other items.

The Bill is set to become law tomorrow, with or without Governor Mike Sonko’s assent, at the expiry of a 14-day window for the county boss to act. This will give Mr Badi the power to start spending the money.

Budget and Appropriation Committee Chairman Robert Mbatia said the governor has until Thursday to assent to the Bill or it will automatically become law at the expiry of the 14 days.

“By law, Mr Sonko is mandated to sign the Bill in order to give NMS the authority to access the funds. However, if he does not append his signature, it becomes effective after the lapse of the 14 days,” said Mr Mbatia.

The Kariobangi South MCA said that NMS Deputy Director-General Enosh Momanyi was assigned authority to incur expenditure during a special sitting, enabling him to draw money from both the Consolidated Fund and the County Revenue Fund.

This will be a major boost in the fight against the coronavirus. The county has been declared the epicentre of the disease and has the bulk of confirmed cases countrywide. From the funds, Sh85million will go towards ward-based interventions including the purchase of hand sanitisers, masks and related items at Sh1 million for each of the 85 wards.

The remaining Sh940 million will remain under the Emergency Fund for general public health interventions related to the pandemic.

A push-and-pull between Governor Sonko and the new administration over the transferred functions has been responsible for the delays in enacting the law.

Mr Mbatia confirmed that the governor is yet to append his signature to the Bill more than 10 days after MCAs gave their green light.

“When I inquired why he had not signed it, I was told the governor had some reservations that he intended to bring back as a memorandum to the house this week. However, we are yet to get the revised copy,” he said.