Nairobi County through its Governor Mike Sonko has filed a case seeking to stop payments to all creditors so as to allow auditing of pending bills amounting to 60 billion shilling.
According to the Governor, the County’s liabilities as at June 30, 2017, stood at 56,516,365,308.32 shillings which amount is inclusive of debts due to statutory bodies, suppliers and contractors, long term loans, contingent liabilities and employee benefits.
Sonko says the County inherited these huge debts from the defunct City Council of Nairobi and the immediate predecessor which have significantly affected cash flows.
“The County is in the process of developing a debt management strategy with a view to liquidate all debts inherited from the defunct City Council of Nairobi,” he says.
The Governor says that the county is experiencing financial constraints and is not in a position to immediately pay under the county’s current financial year owing to limited and restricted sources of revenue.
The court papers read some of the creditors have initiated and pursued execution against the County Government via attachment and committal proceedings, seeking to have Nairobi City County officers committed to civil jail for failure by County to satisfy decretal sums, and such arrest and/or imprisonment will be unfair and contrary to the Constitution with specific regard to freedom of movement, devolution and its objectives.
“Arresting and detaining the County’s officials has the potential of bringing to a standstill or throwing into disarray the functioning of Nairobi City County, including payment of creditors, contrary to public interest and policy,” says the County boss.
If the creditors are allowed to continue with the execution the move is likely to expose the County government and the public at large to further untold liabilities and eventual loss of public funds.
Sonko says that his County is willing to settle the pending decrees but needs time to pay after scrutiny, and ascertaining the status of the various payments.
According to the papers other debts arising from court cases makes a total sum of 3, 004, 177, 668 shillings
