- Sakaja was triggered by nominated Senator Tabitha Mutinda's remarks that appeared to put the governor on the spot over the unpaid bills.
- Mutinda, who is the vice chairperson of the committee, hard-pressed Sakaja to explain why his administration had not paid garbage collection firms that are currently on strike.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Drama on Thursday ensued during a Senate committee meeting after Governor Johnson Sakaja implicated MPs and senators in the financial mess at City Hall, including pending bills.
In intriguing revelations, the county boss told the Senate Finance Committee how some lawmakers, mandated to oversight his administration, have been pressing him and his officers to pay some firms.
“Some senators and MPs are pushing for certain companies, certain law firms to be paid. I will not mention names because that is not why we are here,” he said.
The county chief appeared before the committee to explain the Sh16 billion pending bills incurred by the now-defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Service and the reason behind the pile-up of garbage in the capital.
Sakaja was triggered by nominated Senator Tabitha Mutinda's remarks that appeared to put the governor on the spot over the unpaid bills.
Mutinda, who is the vice chairperson of the committee, hard-pressed Sakaja to explain why his administration had not paid garbage collection firms that are currently on strike.
“Can you tell us why these contractors have not been paid?” Mutinda posed.
This infuriated the governor.
“Give full disclosure of what you are saying,” Sakaja said.
The committee members burst out with a barrage of questions, sending the meeting into disarray.
Chairman Ali Roba (Mandera) attempted to control the rising temperatures as members told to allow the governor to disclose what he meant.
“Chairman, we will not allow you to muzzle the governor. We will allow you to get away with this,” Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale said.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna chimed in.
“This is the week of saying the truth in the senate. We will not allow you to get away with this,” he said.
Sifuna said there have been claims that he owns a garbage collection firm that does business with the Nairobi government.
He asked the governor to disclose to the committee whether this is true.
Khalwale also raised the issue of garbage collection.
“The statement made by the governor of Nairobi is very profound. Could he tell us the names of companies currently doing this work of waste management?” the Kakamega Senator said.
“He said that it was a serious matter of conflict of interest for MPs and senators who are charged with oversight to do business with Nairobi, and then they turn around to make the governor look bad,” he added.
Without mentioning names, Sakaja disclosed that he and his officers in the finance department have endured pressure from MPs and senators.
“I have not gone to the register of companies to confirm the beneficial owners of these companies or who owns them, but you have been pushing for payments,” he said.
“In fact, I pity my Finance CEC here who has been receiving calls and messages from MPs and senators.”
Yesterday, it emerged that some garbage collection firms have down their tools due to delayed payments by the county governments.
Some of the firms, he added, are those that NMS owed millions of shillings.
The county boss said his administration cannot pay the Sh16 billion that NMS left behind as the body was a national government entity.
Currently, City Hall has accumulated pending bills over Sh107 billion.
He asked the committee to summon State House comptroller Katoo Ole Metito to provide the status of the pending payments.
However, Sakaja found himself in a tight spot after the committee questioned his ‘causal’ responses.
The committee asked whether he has bothered to establish whether the projects for which NMS owes billions, were done.
They gave the county boss 14 days to provide proper responses before appearing before the panel alongside Ole Metito and Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, who has been auditing NMS books.