Bad news for Nairobi contractors as Sonko-Badi war delays projects  

Nairobi County government contractors are facing uncertain times as the row between City Hall and the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) over implementation of projects continues to stall their completion.

This is after it emerged that Governor Mike Sonko’s administration is yet to hand over to NMS projects under the transferred functions, more than five months after the establishment of the new office.

This now threatens further delays, putting paid to efforts of the contractors to complete the projects and get paid.

Concerned with the delays, the Nairobi County Assembly now wants the county government and the Major-General Mohammed Badi-led NMS to come clean on when the projects will resume.

The county legislators, led by Majority Whip Paul Kados, said the delays in completion of the projects had left contractors unpaid and several projects, which had been going on before the transfer of functions in February, stalled.

Transferred functions

He pointed out that the transfer of functions to the national government and their exercise through NMS had led to delays in the handling of ongoing prior county projects, primarily because the county government is yet to hand over existing projects falling within the transferred functions.

“This state of affairs has left contractors unpaid and several projects stalled despite budgetary allocations for the said projects,” said the Mihang’o Ward MCA.

In February, Mr Sonko transferred county functions of health, transport, public works, utilities and ancillary services and county planning and development to the NMS.

However, attempts by the NMS to have all contracts falling under the transferred functions handed over to it have been futile, with Mr Sonko insisting that the contracts the county government had with contractors before the agreement should be completed, since contracts are not transferrable.

Project implementation

On the other hand, Maj-Gen Badi, the NMS director-general, wants all the contracts handed to his office, arguing that it was the one with the budget for their implementation.

Nairobi MCAs have now tasked two committees – Budget and Appropriations as well as Transport – to inquire and report back to the assembly within two weeks, on all ongoing county projects launched by the county executive within the transferred functions, prior to the transfer, .

They will also report in the status of contractual payments to affected contractors for the ongoing projects, whether stalled or ongoing, before and since the NMS took over.

This is in addition to measures put in place by the county executive and the NMS to formally transfer the ongoing projects within the transferred functions as well as plans to enable resumption of ongoing projects stalled as a result of the prevailing state of affairs to expedite their completion.