City Hall probes intrigues behind dismissal of County Attorney Lydia Kwamboka
Nairobi County Attorney Lydia Kwamboka got a letter last week terminating her contract.
A series of continuous infightings and unresolved differences between the city’s County Attorney and Finance department over payment of legal pending bills is said to have led to the recent dismissal of the county Attorney Lydia Kwamboka by Governor Johnson Sakaja.
Also in the mix is said to be a 2019 decision by the devolved unit to pay a total of Sh250 million to Kuza Firms and Allied Limited-a firm associated with politician Cyrus Jirongo.
Mr Sakaja in the wake of the ongoing probe at City Hall had last week issued a termination letter to Ms Kwamboka urging her to handover the office to one Christine Ireri.
“We are grateful for the service rendered during the transitional period following the lapse of your employment contract. Following the appointment of acting county attorney, you are required to officially handover," the letter to Ms Kwamboka states.
The letter also quotes a contract given to Ms Kwamboka on October 2019 that stated that her contract was to end on December 31, 2022. Ms Kwamboka, the letter states, has been serving in office during the transition period.
Just a week to her termination, Ms Kwamboka had appeared before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee where she accused the city’s Finance department of usurping her powers.
According to a source familiar with the developments at City Hall, Mr Sakaja is said to have been upset by the pronouncements of the county attorney, where she appeared to blame the Finance department for the payment to law firms.
It is then that Mr Sakaja went ahead and questioned a series of payments of undisclosed amounts made by the county legal department including the Sh250 million payment.
The Sh250 million payment according to court documents was carried out by the Nairobi City County attorney’s office through a law firm for a 2.5 acre piece of land belonging to AEF Reuben Primary School.
This follows an out of court agreement reached between Mr Jirongo’s firm and the Nairobi City County Government when Mr Jirongo sued City Hall for failing to honour an out of the court settlement that required city hall to pay him the amount.
The court had dismissed his case and ordered that Mr Jirongo should give City Hall the title deed in exchange for the payment.
However, this did not happen and the county Attorney is accused of proceeding with the Sh250 million payment yet the title deed was not handed over.
Mr Jirongo is said to have used the title deed that he was supposed to handover to the county government, to obtain another loan of Sh20 billion according to the court documents.
Ms Kwamboka who is accused of being behind the irregular payment however told Nation. Africa that the payment to Mr Jirongo’s firm was an issue that was existing before she came into office and that the case is still in court.
“The payment issue to Kuza Firms and Allied Limited was in the county before I came into office. Although the payment was made, we are still in court so that we can resolve the issue. This is a matter in court and the attorney general was part of the case,” Ms Kwamboka said.
She also said that her termination at City Hall was in violation of her contract that was expected to end in July 2026 according to the appointment letter she received in August 2022 from former Nairobi Governor Ann Kananu, who directed she should serve for a period of six years beginning July 2020 when the Office of the County Attorney Act 2020 was established. According to theAact, the county attorney serves for a period of six years.
In dismissing her from office, City Hall relied on a separate appointment letter issued in 2019 by former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko that extended her contract to December 2022.
She was however impeached in July 2021 by the Nairobi City County assembly over abuse of office and practicing without a valid advocate licence.
It has emerged that Ms Kwamboka on Monday and Tuesday this week recorded statements at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over the allegations of fraud at City Hall.
The probe follows an ongoing inquiry by the investigating authorities at City Hall over a number of companies that received payment but did not supply anything to the county government.
