Investigative agencies are following up on suspect payments orchestrated by accountants and youthful interns at City Hall.
Despite Governor Sakaja claiming that he has ably dealt with cartels at the county, officers in key departments are still laughing their way to the bank in mult-billion under-carpet deals.
Investigations have unearthed how accountants and two interns brokered a deal that will see City Hall lose billions to law firms.
The accountants Dennis Mwanzia and John Kamau with the help of interns Oscar Muyodi and Festus Limo are the people on the spot.
Mary Mawathe a self-proclaimed madam fix it, is also on the know it all, she does everything in her level to make sure that those she took money from get all papers LPOs needed.
She knows all the ways and which steps to follow according to documents in our possession the lady has pocketed well and she brags a lot.
Also on the spot is Charles Masella who works at the Public Service department as the IT Director. He has severally been accused of engaging in con games over employment opportunities where unsuspecting members of the public have been conned.
He works with the suspect KASOA organization that lobbies for opportunities at City Hall and was once confronted by members of the public over his shoddy deals
They are secretly being investigated for procuring LPOs, and irregular invoicing on Work plans.
According to information in our possession, the officers receive information from Senior County officers after a huge amount of money has exchanged hands.
There have been questions surrounding the lavish life of the officers who claim they are unbeatable in their game and that even the governor can’t stop them.
Their top clients are mostly Somalis and Kikuyus. The agencies are in possession of LPOs and well-prepared payment vouchers prepared by the lads.
This comes at a time the county government is in plans to pay Ksh.2 billion to controversially selected 15 law firms as pending bills.
The matter has now moved to court as has been the case in what seems to be a well-planned move to loot more funds through law firms.
In a suit filed on Wednesday by lawyer Clinton Mwale against the Nairobi County Government as the first respondent, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja as the second respondent and the Law Society of Kenya as an interested party, High Court Judge Justice L. N. Mugambi issued orders directing all the defendants to be served in seven days.
“I have read the application dated June 20, 2023, together with the certificate of urgency and do hereby direct that: I decline all the exparte orders sought, the application be served within seven days,” the order reads in part.
Mwale filed the suit under the certificate of urgency through Mwale and Beitta Advocates.
The planned controversial payment, according to court documents, is set to be made before the end of this financial year which is just eight days shy of lapsing.
According to documents filed in court, Sakaja’s administration owes various law firms more than Ksh.21 billion as pending bills as of January 2023.
While questioning the modality used to identify the law firms to be paid, the petitioner says that he has since learned that the National Treasury is in the process of disbursing money to offset pending bills to Nairobi County and that a plot has been hatched to selectively pay a few law firms.
Mwale claims the law firms were handpicked through discrimination considering other firms numbering 300 have equally provided legal services to the county.
“The applicant has since learned that the National Treasury is in the process of disbursing some funds to the 1st respondent (Nairobi County government) for purposes of sorting pending bills and the applicant has further learned that the 1st respondent has approved to pay around Ksh.2 billion to less than 15 law firms,” the documents filed in court add.
According to the documents filed in court, the profiled law firms set to be paid include; Makallah Theuri & Company Advocates (Sh60million), L.N Nyaribo & Company (Sh50million), Okatch & Partners (70million), Okubasu Munene & Kazungu Advocates (Sh30million), Gikunda Miriti & Company (Sh67million) and Masire & Mogusu (Sh27.5million).
Others are; Anne Munene & Company (Sh34million), Koceyo & Company Advocates (Sh43.8million), Roba & Associates (51.8million), Ummi Bashir & Company Advocates (Sh32million), J.W Wachira Advocates (Sh58million), Momanyi and Associates (Sh91million), Jamal Bake & Associates (Sh47million) and Bespoke Insurance Brokers Limited (Sh28million).
Additionally, Osoro Onyiego and Manyara Advocates (Sh30million), Swanya and Company Advocates (Sh2.2million), Arati and Company (2.15million), KO Advocates (Sh20million), Moronge Advocates (Sh10million) and Ojienda Co. Advocates (Sh5million).
In March last year, the Nairobi County Assembly initiated a probe into the controversial Ksh.595 million legal fees paid to several law firms at City Hall.
The inquiry by the Nairobi County Assembly Public Accounts Committee follows an audit query by the Auditor General into the county executive’s legal fees expenditure.
According to the audit report, the county government made large payments as legal fees to various firms that offered legal services to the county.
However, the report said, the county executive did not provide documents such as the nature of disputes, approvals for procurement of professional services records, records of services rendered and contract agreements for audit review.
The law firms included Munikah and Co Advocates, Ataka Kimori and Okoth Advocates, Abdullahi and Co Advocates, Musyoki Mogaka and Co Advocates, Koceyo and Co Advocates, Kwanga Mboya and Co Advocates, and Magoro and Co Advocates.
