This archive report was first published on 22 April 2020.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has threatened to reclaim county functions transferred to the national government, citing frustrations from unnamed officials in the Office of the President.
On April 22, 2020, Sonko announced that he would commence the process of terminating the Deed of Transfer, which was signed on February 25, 2020.
The Deed of Transfer handed over key functions, including Health, transport, public works and planning, and development services, to the national government.
According to Sonko, the officials at Harambee House instigated the vandalism of sanitization booths he had erected in Kibera, Buruburu, and Kencom within the Central Business District.
He also accused the officers of frustrating his efforts to help vulnerable city residents during the coronavirus pandemic, after his team was banned from conducting daily fumigation in estates and slums as well as distributing food rations, masks, and sanitizers.
“May the Lord punish all the senior government officers at the Office of the President who gave instructions for the Kibra, Kencom, and Buruburu sanitization booths erected by the Sonko rescue team to be vandalized,” he stated.
Following the handover of functions, the President created Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) to oversee the handed-over functions, with Maj Gen Abdalla Badi as its head and Enos Onyango Momanyi as his deputy.
However, Sonko has had a frosty relationship with NMS, with tensions escalating in recent weeks over the redeployment of 6,000 City Hall workers to the newly created agency.
