Sakaja Impeachment: Njuguna Ndung’u Reveals Details

Nairobi City County Assembly MCAs have threatened to Impeach Governor Johnson Arthur Sakaja over delay in payment of salaries and disbursement of bursaries.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u has revealed details of a phone conversation he had with Governor Sakaja over the outstanding salary arrears owed to civil servants.

Speaking while appearing before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning on Wednesday, Ndung’u highlighted that Sakaja raised concerns about a looming impeachment motion being plotted by Nairobi MCAs over the salary arrears as well as lack of bursary allocation.

Ndung’u explained that the crisis cuts across on a national scale as the country is struggling economically.

“In a sense, we are struggling to stay afloat. We are having trouble with salaries. We are clearing salaries with arrears. In fact, in the morning I was called by the Governor of Nairobi telling me that he is facing a looming impeachment as he has not paid salaries to the civil servants,” Ndung’u stated.

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The CS detailed that the funding crisis is occasioned by the government’s inability to collect enough revenue.

This, he explained, is caused by the extreme weather conditions experienced in the past year including severe drought and El Nino rains.

“One year, Kenya has gone through two extremes; severe drought and now El Nino. In both cases, we have reallocated supplementary budget, and recurrent and development budgets to save lives. At the same time, those extremes create a recession, we are not getting adequate tax revenues so you can imagine.”

At the same time, the MPs demanded the National Treasury prioritise the disbursement of funds to the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) to ensure the timely distribution of bursaries before schools open next month.

The CS promised to look into the matter and disburse the funds as requested within the month.

On Tuesday, a section of Nairobi MCAs raised concerns over the state of Nairobi County, noting that the county was in a desolate state.

They questioned how the county government collected an average of Ksh30 million daily and was unable to pay salary arrears to civil servants.

Further, they accused Sakaja of not taming cartels who have taken over activities at City Hall.

“He has been unable to do his work so he should be removed from office. He knows the social halls have been raided and are at the hands of thieves and he has done nothing. To me, he is unfit. In terms of education, the children require bursaries and Nairobi citizens are also grappling with a tough economy hence even paying fees is a strain. Right now, we don’t have bursaries,” Joel Munuve, MCA Kariobangi North stated.

“In terms of the environment, there’s garbage everywhere and the county collects an average of Ksh30 million daily but they are unable to pay the Green Army. So, it comes a time that we should remove him from office. We are discussing these matters with other MCAs to know the next step.