Former Nairobi governor Ann Kananu.
| File | Nation Media GroupNairobi
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Ann Kananu: Top State officials call the shots at City Hall, not Nairobi governor
In the wake of the current scandals at City Hall, the third governor of Nairobi, Ann Kananu, reveals the challenges the county chiefs go through.
Blatant theft of public funds, low-cadre officers swimming in millions and billions of shillings unaccounted for; this has been the grim story of the cartel-ridden City Hall since the onset of devolution.
Ms Ann Kananu took over the helm at City Hall in January 2021 following the impeachment of Mr Mike Sonko. She led the county, together with Lt-Gen Mohamed Badi at the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, until Governor Johnson Sakaja was sworn-in last year.
Nairobi is currently in the news over fraudulent payments. Did you experience such during your tenure?
Ooh yes. I remember when I was the governor, I would even receive written letters from Cabinet secretaries saying they wanted so and so paid. I have those letters up to today. And if you go to the file you find that those people who want to be paid have pending cases in court. In fact, most enemies that I have now, and they are in government, it’s because I never paid them.
What do you mean?
Nairobi ni Shamba la Wanyama (is an Animal Farm). You cannot compare Nairobi to Meru for example. If there are cartels in Meru, then maybe those involved in lands, but not what is happening in Nairobi. The other day I saw in the news a multi-million scandal where certain firms have been paid millions of taxpayers’ money for services not rendered.
How did you deal with pressure to pay millions to companies that rendered no service?
When I realised there were such companies, I reported to the DCI (Directorate of Criminal Investigations). However, up to date, nothing has been done.
What do you do as a governor if you have reported and done a follow-up and nothing has been done? You sit down and watch until that day when such things will come back again.
Are you saying the “cartels” are so powerful that they even have people in the investigative and justice systems?
Yes. We have them and they are very powerful. The cartels have their own cartels that they work with. It is as simple as that. I did report but what happened? I can even give dates of people who went to DCI to follow up on my letters.
So how can you deal with these “very powerful” cartels as a governor?
Whatever you do, make sure you do it in writing so that you have a defence. Do you know it is only the Finance executive who can change a signatory of county accounts at CBK and not the governor? I tried changing my Finance executive but he went to court and got orders. As long as the status quo remains, they will work according to what their masters want and not you as the governor.
I wish there is a law that can be put in place when corruption cases should follow the specific people who authorised the payments. Let the officer in charge who started the process and paid, and the head of that section carry their own crosses.
You are the only Nairobi governor yet to be taken to court over graft. How have you managed this?
I made it clear that anything that was being paid, I told the Finance executive and chief finance officer that they will be responsible for everything.
How easy or difficult is it being the governor of Nairobi?
That office is political and so it has a lot of political interference. A county is run by a governor who should be in control but that is not the case with Nairobi.
Are you saying the governor is always captive?
Of course. I was captive myself. You would get calls from all over saying pay this, do this, sign this and if you don’t, there are consequences even to an extent of impeachment. They get MCAs to impeach you. You always operate under threats.
With the political interference, is it right to say that the governor has little say on executives?
In my case, I found people already in office so I never got the opportunity to go through their CVs and know who-is-who. It is very good as a governor to have people you have personally employed so that they can be loyal and work according to your vision.
Did you experience a situation where some of your ministers would run to their “masters” for protection whenever you wanted to discipline them?
Sure. That happened a lot. You want to change someone and you get a call that huyo ni mtu wangu tafadhali achana na yeye (that’s my friend, let him be). The interference, on a scale of one to 10, is at six.
Is it right to say that the keen interest in Nairobi is because of money and power?
Exactly. Nairobi has a big budget, has so much work going on and has huge pending bills that have been there for years. It is all about everybody following up on their money. There are genuine pending bills but there are some called hewa (claims for service not rendered). This is where the cartels come in. When I got into office, they had already put strategic people in strategic offices. This is why my tenure was very difficult and stressful.
How do they put these strategic people in strategic offices yet you are the governor?
By the time I got into office, they were already in office. I only had one year to learn the system and understand it. By the time you want to implement your changes and everything, time is up. There is nothing much I would have done. But given a chance in 2027, I will deal with the cartels.
Is this a confirmation that you will be running for the governor position in the next election?
Yes, I will.
So should Nairobi County go back to the national government if the governor is not free to run it?
For the interest of the people, I will say no. It is a county like any other and the residents also need the same services as others. Taking it to the national government will not help. We had NMS, what changed?
NMS was in the national government. In fact, it was worse, the cartels were so many. They doubled. Even if you take Nairobi back to the national government, that does not assist.
Do you think devolution has worked?
Yes, it has. It has brought services closer to the people. Devolution in essence was a good thing for the country.
What are some threats to devolution?
Financing of county governments has to be the biggest one. We need timely disbursements of funds because if people are paid on time, there will be no corruption cases. The other threat is governors coalescing around their political parties instead of working together for the benefit of Kenyans.
