Drama on Thursday ensued during a Senate committee meeting after Governor Johnson Sakaja implicated MPs and senators in the financial mess at City Hall, including pending bills.
In intriguing revelations, the county boss told the Senate Finance Committee how some lawmakers, mandated to oversight his administration, have been pressing him and his officers to pay some firms.
“Some senators and MPs are pushing for certain companies, certain law firms to be paid. I will not mention names because that is not why we are here,” he said.
The county chief appeared before the committee to explain the Sh16 billion pending bills incurred by the now-defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Service and the reason behind the pile-up of garbage in the capital.
Sakaja was triggered by nominated Senator Tabitha Mutinda's remarks that appeared to put the governor on the spot over the unpaid bills.
Mutinda, who is the vice chairperson of the committee, hard-pressed Sakaja to explain why his administration had not paid garbage collection firms that are currently on strike.
“Can you tell us why these contractors have not been paid?” Mutinda posed.
This infuriated the governor.
“Give full disclosure of what you are saying,” Sakaja said.
The committee members burst out with a barrage of questions, sending the meeting into disarray.
Chairman Ali Roba (Mandera) attempted to control the rising temperatures as members told to allow the governor to disclose what he meant.
“Chairman, we will not allow you to muzzle the governor. We will allow you to get away with this,” Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale said.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna chimed in.
“This is the week of saying the truth in the senate. We will not allow you to get away with this,” he said.
Sifuna said there have been claims that he owns a garbage collection firm that does business with the Nairobi government.
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