Okiya Omtatah Moves to Court to Block National Gov’t from Taking over Nairobi

Activist Okiya Omtatah has filed a petition in court to block the handover of the main Nairobi County Government functions to the National Government.

In court documents filed on Wednesday, Omtatah argues that key stakeholders were not involved in the transfer process that was done on Tuesday at State House.

He says that the public, the Cabinet, County Executive Committee, County Assembly, and the Senate ought to have played a part in the process as stipulated in the constitution.

“Article 187 of the Constitution provides for the transfer of functions and powers between levels of government, the transfer ought to have involved the national and county governments, not just the President and his people on one hand and the Governor and his people on the other,” reads the petition.

“There is no Cabinet paper on the transfer. There is no resolution by Parliament. There is no County Executive Committee paper on the transfer. There is no County Executive Resolution on the impugned transfer of functions which was approved by the County Assembly and then forwarded to the Senate for concurrence.”

He further avers that Governor Mike Sonko lacks the power to hand over county government functions as he was barred from accessing his office by the court last December after he was charged with corruption.

“The Governor is barred from the office which includes executing any functions of that office. He can’t then claim to execute any agreements or contracts on behalf of Nairobi City County. To do so would be contemptuous of the Court Orders barring him from office,” says Omtatah.

The petitioner also argues that the transfer of key functions to the national government amounts to dissolving the county government without following the laid out procedure. He asks the court to declare the transfer as unlawful and unconstitutional, hence invalid, null and void.