Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has pleaded with the Senate to audit the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) tenure after making it clear that not everything was handed to him during the transition of power in 2022.
Sakaja appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts Investments Committee after he was called upon to respond to issues emerging in the 2019/20 financial year.
The Nairobi County boss has admitted that there is some critical information that his administration can't get access to despite several attempts since he took over in August 2022.
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"If we come back here, before, one you have audited the NMS to discuss things that are overlapping, or two before that information that Nairobi County has said cannot be accessed no matter what magic we try, and that query will remain like that unless you ask for it," explained Sakaja.
Sakaja added that he is going to write to the Executive Office of the President and the State House to ask for the specific access that was in place to the electronic construction system during the NMS era.
"We will write to the Executive Office of the President and the State House and ask for that specific access that had been there to the electronic construction system," added Sakaja.
According to Sakaja, transferring county duties to the NMS back in 2019 ought to have benefitted Nairobi but it seems like the opposite happened.
He continued that the county government is probably worse off just from what has been going on starting with the Nairobi nurses' strike followed by when the county vehicles were switched off recently.
Sifuna, Cherargei hit back at Sakaja
Senators Edwin Sifuna and Samson Cherargei have hit back at Sakaja after claiming that he can't access some of the NMS files.
Sifuna asked Sakaja vividly why was tasking the committee with going to offices that can't be accessed yet he was among the people who created the NMS.
Sifuna also joked by stating that he thought Sakaja was welcome to the Office of the President.
Cherargei wondered inquired if there was a formal takeover in Nairobi since he noticed that Sakaja was comfortable around former NMS Director General Mohamed Badi when taking over the county back in August 2022.