Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has defended his move to hand over key county functions to the national government in a statement at the dawn of thursday.
The governor who is facing corruption charges in court and is barred from accessing his office argues that the needs of Nairobi County has unique needs compared to other counties.
“My government went out on a fact-finding mission that saw us benchmark and take lessons from other jurisdictions across the world including Washington DC in the US and Abuja in Nigeria where we established that cities and metropolis the size of Nairobi are best served jointly by devolved units and central governments,” Sonko said.
Sonko now argues that with this kind of knowledge and and his capacity as the governor he organised discussions with the national government to enable joint service delivery with both county and state resources.
“The process that saw me handing over some of the county functions was consultative, including the crafting of the agreement that we signed on Tuesday” he said.
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He is convinced that the agreement he signed in the presence of President Uhuru Kenyatta will enhance service delivery to Nairobians and re-position now as the economic hub of East and Central Africa.
Sonko’s argument has drawn sharp reactions from the residents of Nairobi with many expressing their views through social media.
Some questioned the role that will be played CEC’s who functions have been taken over by the national government like health. Others asked why there was no public participation and few sycophants lauded ‘ the collaboration’ as a good idea.
Sonko’s explanation still does not sit pretty with many Nairobians who believe that the embattled governor is proving unqualified from the job and not learning at all. Political pundits express it that the governor settled for the ‘deal’ to survive because it is less disruptive.
