Clear city county mess

The leadership confusion in the Nairobi City County is raging on with yesterday's resignation of Speaker Beatrice Elachi.

This latest twist comes at a time when the governor of this most important county, which also hosts the seat of the national government, has been locked out of his office over a Sh357 million procurement fraud case.

Governor Mike Sonko is not only barred from accessing City Hall through a court order, he also signed a deed of transfer ceding key functions to a national government agency.

The Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), which directly reports to President Uhuru Kenyatta, is literally in charge of the capital, leaving Governor Sonko with not much to do.

His protestations notwithstanding, his footprint is evident in the mess that prevails in the city county.

For nearly two years since Mr Polycarp Igathe resigned as the Deputy Governor, Mr Sonko dilly-dallied on picking his successor, ensuring that he continued to run the show alone.

There is even more confusion now, with Speaker Elachi having thrown in the towel, citing an unconducive working environment and threats to her life. She has appointed her deputy to take over in an acting capacity.

The atmosphere at City Hall is so badly poisoned that it will be difficult for any meaningful work to be done. The Executive under Governor Sonko is hamstrung, and so is the Legislature, which is split into two fiercely antagonistic camps.

With the next General Election about two-and-a-half years away, the question that arises is whether what is left of the city county government should be allowed to limp on for the remaining period.

With the NMS increasingly exerting its presence, this is a plausible alternative. The other is to dissolve the city county and let the people elect a new team to properly run the metropolis.