Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has lashed out at County casual workers over their disloyalty, asking them to give up their positions to other people who are more in need of an income.
The governor took to Facebook to address the current crisis at City Hall where casual workers have allegedly gone unpaid for over four months.
Sonko highlighted that he was aware of the payment delay, which he blamed on the ongoing internal wrangles at the Nairobi County Assembly.
Sonko explained that initially, the delay was because the payments had to first be approved by the Controller of Budget before being released through the Central Bank of Kenya.
However, he noted that the County Chief Finance Officer, Halake Waqo, had managed to get the funds released, and the casuals should have been paid on Monday.
“On Friday…Chief (Financial) Officer Waqo sent me a message stating, ‘I have finally managed to convince Controller of Budgets on the Casuals. Unfortunately, CBK won’t release their funds today but Monday casuals are guaranteed their payments’,” Sonko revealed.
According to Sonko, disgruntled MCAs, however, sabotaged the process and incited the casual workers to hold demonstrations.
“…But that was not to be due to what I suspect is sabotage and incitement by a section of my MCAs who think I’m supporting the return of Madam Hon. Elachi and also sympathetic to cartels (that) I am currently fighting to break up in City planning department,” Sonko ranted before turning the heat on the casuals.
“Needless to say, we went out of our way to create the casuals positions…unfortunately, a number of these youth appear to be more interested in being used by politicians than serving Nairobi Residents. Let me remind them that Nairobi has millions of unemployed youth. If they are not ready to work, we are more than happy to give their positions to others who would appreciate to get something to do,” the governor asserted.
Sonko, who is notorious for sharing private conversations in public, then shared screenshots of the conversations between himself and the County CFO, exonerating himself of any liability in the crisis.
