This archive report was first published on 11 May 2020.
On April 27, 2020, the Nairobi County Assembly gazetted the Supplementary Appropriations Act 2020, allocating Sh15 billion to the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) for the running of ceded county functions. However, Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto has now declared this gazettement irregular.
According to Ogeto, the Speaker of the County Assembly, Beatrice Elachi, did not commit the Bill to the Committee of the Whole House before signing it. Furthermore, the County Assembly did not vote on the Bill as required by section 24 (5) of the County Governments Act.
As a result, Ogeto has urged the Government Printer to revoke the Nairobi County Supplementary Appropriations Act, 2020. In a letter to the Office of Nairobi Governor, Mike Sonko, Ogeto stated, 'As the Bill was not assented to in either ways contemplated by the law, it is our considered guidance that the purported Appropriations Act, 2020 was not lawful and proper as the said Act did not exist in the first place. The said publication is therefore a nullity and ought to be rectified appropriately.'
On April 3, 2020, the Nairobi County Assembly had approved the Supplementary Estimates and Appropriations Bill, allocating NMS Sh15 billion to run four departments and a Sh1.02 billion emergency fund to fight the spread of Covid-19.
