The Senate County Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Moses Kajwang’, has slapped Johnson Sakaja with a Sh500,000 fine and directed Douglas Kanja to arrest him and present him before the Committee on Monday, March 30.
The Committee took the action after finding the Governor guilty of contempt of Parliament for failing to appear before it, despite three invitations and subsequent summons.
The summons stemmed from his failure to honour three invites where he was expected to explain how billions of shillings allocated to the county were spent.
“The IG must arrest and present the Governor before the Committee on Monday, March 30. The time of presenting him shall be communicated,” said Kajwang when delivering the verdict.
During Monday’s meeting, the Committee is expected to deliberate on whether, by showing contempt to Parliament, the Governor is in gross violation of the Constitution and therefore unfit to hold public office.
Should the Committee establish that the Governor is in serious violation of the law, it will recommend the matter to the House, a move that could place him in a difficult position, particularly if he seeks to reclaim his seat in the 2027 general election.
Senators maintained that the Governor has failed to deliver for the people of Nairobi, pointing to findings in the Auditor General’s report for the 2024/25 financial year.
Edwin Sifuna called on the Senate to stand firm in ensuring the Governor is held accountable for all funds received by the county.
“The only place I can face the Governor and demand accountability is in this Senate, before this Committee,” he said, arguing that there is no alternative forum to engage the Governor.
Sifuna raised concern over the large amounts flagged by the Auditor General as misappropriated in the 2024/25 financial year.
He singled out Sh840 million listed as personnel costs, noting that despite the expenditure, the Auditor General found that the list of beneficiaries, claim forms, invoices, approvals, or any supporting documentation was not provided for audit.
Another red flag was raised over seven withdrawals from the salary account totalling Sh1.9 billion.
According to the report, the withdrawals were not backed by payroll summaries, registers, payment vouchers, or approvals, and were not processed through the approved payroll system.
The Linda Mwananchi leader also expressed concern over a query on Sh544 million reported as fuel, oil, and lubricants expenditure, with the Auditor General questioning both the utilisation of county assets and accountability for the fuel spending.
In the period under review, the County Executive procured various private contractors and assigned them to specific zones for solid waste collection. At the same time, the County operated 56 solid waste collection trucks, incurring fuel costs amounting to Sh. 124,520,438.
However, there was no evidence to show that the trucks were assigned to any operational zones or supported by activity logs. Trip sheets, fuel consumption records, or supervisory reports were also not provided to demonstrate that the trucks were engaged in garbage collection during the period under review.
Further concerns were raised over Sh15.7 billion spent on solid waste collection, transportation, and disposal services across Nairobi City County, with the Auditor General pointing to widespread weaknesses in procurement, contract administration, operational controls, and financial management.
The Governor was also faulted for recruiting seven advisors with a combined monthly pay of Sh10 million.
The Committee argued that the roles of the advisors largely duplicate those of County Executive Committee Members (CECs).
The advisors are designated as Health, Mobility, Political, Economic, Urban and Regional, Digital, and Innovation.
“The kind of waste the Auditor General has recorded makes me conclude that there should be stoppage of funds for Nairobi County,” said Sifuna.
Kajwang backed the sentiments, adding that “All that should have gone wrong in Nairobi County has gone wrong.”
