MCAs' Dubai trip to save Sonko exposed

The County Assembly of Nairobi was on Monday evening in the spotlight as a plot to scuttle Governor Mike Sonko's ouster was exposed.

The assembly is said to have sent tens of MCAs on a superfluous tour of the United Arab Emirates at the taxpayers' expense.

The 18 Ward Reps were scheduled to fly out to Dubai for 11 days, from December 19 to 29 this year.

IMPEACH

On Monday, Orange Democratic Movement MCAs gave County Speaker Beatrice Elachi a seven-day ultimatum to call a special sitting to discuss the woes bedevilling the county.

Sources told the Daily Nation that the Dubai tour had been planned to take place around the same time when ODM members were calling for a special sitting of the assembly, during which a motion to impeach Sonko would have been tabled.

Sonko, who is facing corruption and abuse-of-office charges, has been barred from accessing his office or in any way running the affairs of the county.

He denied the charges against him and on December 11, 2019 paid a Sh15 million cash bail to secure his freedom as the case against him progresses.

Sending the 18 MCAs out of the country appeared to have been a stroke of genius as it would have scuttled the quest to have at least 82 MCAs, out of the 123 who sit in the Nairobi County Assembly, sign the censure motion to remove the embattled governor from office.

THE LIST

The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority to impeach a governor, and had a motion to impeach Sonko been called while the 18 MCAs were away, it would have been considerably weakened by the depleted quorum.

The letter allowing the MCAs, alongside three county staff, to travel out of the country, which the Daily Nation has seen, indicates that the trip had been approved by the chief officers of Finance and Economic Planning.

It originated from the Office of the Clerk of Nairobi Assembly and was addressed to the Nairobi County Secretary.

It bore the name of acting Clerk Monicah Muthami, but was signed on her behalf.

The letter requested the county Executive to help facilitate the flights, accommodation and related expenses of the 18 MCAs who, curiously, had been invited to Dubai by different institutions.

No further reason for the 11-day visit to the emirate of Dubai, a popular destination for holidaymakers from around the world, was given.

SYMPOSIUM

“The Nairobi County Assembly would like to request the county Executive to finance the delegation to attend this important symposium,” the letter, dated December 10, read, but did not specify which particular symposium the MCAs, invited individually, would attend.

It went on: “The Nairobi County Assembly is requesting the Executive to cater for all the living and transport expenses during the period. This is, therefore, to kindly request your office to facilitate the members and staff to enable them to travel to Dubai.”

Those who would have been on the junket are ODM MCAs Jared Okode (Mathare North), Maurice Gari (Nairobi West), Osman Khalif (South C), Francis Otieno (Dandora Area IV), Nicholas Okumu (Lower Savannah), Kennedy Obuya (Imara Daima), Kennedy Oyugi (Nyayo Highrise) and David Okelo (Huruma).

On the Jubilee side were Majority Leader Charles Thuo, Paul Ndung’u (Pumwani), Patriciah Mutheu (Mlango Kubwa), Joseph Wambugu (Karura), Kabiru Muchene (Uthiru Ruthimitu), Mark Ndugu (Maringo Hamza), Julius Njoka (Kariobangi North), and nominated MCAs Joyce Kamau and Millicent Jagero.

REFUSED

The three assembly staff were Ms Muthami, Asman John and Joseph Katoloki.

Mr Thuo, the Majority Leader, denied knowledge of any plans to send MCAs to Dubai, while Mr Obuya termed the letter a piece of propaganda and a smear campaign against MCAs who are seen to be close to Speaker Elachi.

Ms Elachi confirmed there had been plans for the trip, which she said was also to include members from the Executive, but she stopped it as it would have raised audit and moral queries and would have flown in the face of the objective of separation of powers between the two arms of the county government.

“No member has travelled. When they realised what was happening they refused. This would have landed them in trouble. It was wrong. Members are allowed to travel, but this was not right,” said Ms Elachi.

She was, however, livid on why only MCAs are being queried yet the trip would have also included members from the Executive, who were also funding it.

“Let them give out the whole list because it was a trip for the Executive, not MCAs,” she said.

OVERSIGHT

An audit report for the financial year ending June 30, 2019 put the Nairobi County Executive on the spot for spending Sh178 million to irregularly pay allowances for MCAs to carry out their legislative and oversight duties.

Another Sh142.9 million was irregularly paid to staff of the assembly for undisclosed duties, contrary to Section 13(6) of the County Government Act. The Executive failed to provide any authority to support payment of the allowances.

Minority Whip Peter Imwatok said his office was not notified of the travel plans and that, as the whip of his party, he would have been the one to nominate members for the trip, which also ought to be justified.

He said that the law requires a minimum of four and a maximum of seven MCAs to travel outside the country at any given time, and that the Dubai trip would not have been allowed by the Ministry of Devolution and National Treasury.

USURPING

“We must stop this tendency of people wanting to transport MCAs when they are supposed to transact important issues of the assembly. Whether they facilitate MCAs out of the country or not, the threshold of numbers to transact the business of the House remains. Sonko should stop misusing public funds,” he said.

As the storm gathered around City Hall, Minority Leader David Mberia said they had given Ms Elachi up to December 31 to convene the special sitting or they will “take matters into their own hands”.

He said he will once again be writing to the Speaker asking for the sitting to discuss the current leadership vacuum in Nairobi, operations of the Executive now that county accounts are frozen, and the conduct of some officials at City Hall, whom he accused of usurping the functions of the governor.

SABOTAGE

“We must first discuss the issue at hand, and if impeachment or any other solution is the way forward, then we will resort to it,” said Mr Mberia.

A section of Nairobi MCAs, led by Minority Whip Peter Imwatok, has been on the forefront calling for a special sitting of the assembly this month with a view to impeaching Governor Sonko.

The MCAs have been at loggerheads with Ms Elachi over the same, with the county legislators accusing the Speaker of playing games and trying to sabotage a recall of the assembly, which is on a long recess.

On her part, Ms Elachi has maintained that she will only call a special sitting if the grounds provided are genuine and strong enough.

SECOND LETTER

“The ODM members wrote the first letter and I advised them on how to go about it. I am aware that they are meant to write another letter today. Once I receive it, I will share with the other members on the way forward,” said Ms Elachi.