More details have emerged, on the moments leading up to the signing of the partial takeover deal for Nairobi County, between governor Mike Sonko, and the national government.
According to reports by the Daily Nation, Uhuru took Sonko by surprise, when he summoned him to State House on Tuesday, through a call made to the county head on his behalf, by State House comptroller Kinuthia Mbugua.
The daily reported that the president wanted the governor to set aside all his plans, and promptly report to State House, within 15 minutes of the call.
At the time, the Nation reported, Sonko was about to meet a section of Nairobi MCAs over his planned impeachment, and he had to hurriedly make his way from Upperhill to heed to his boss’ summon.
Urban Planning chief officer, Justus Kathenge, and former county secretary, Leboo Morintat, were also summoned in a similarly hasty manner, to act as witnesses during the signing of the deal, that stripped Sonko of his powers in administrating Nairobi’s health, planning, transport, and public works functions.
On Thursday, Sonko defended the takeover agreement in a Facebook statement, saying that the decision was arrived at mutually after the county held benchmarking sessions in successful cities around the world.
According to the county head, cities that were run jointly by national and county governments performed much better, as compared to those administered by a single unit of leadership.
Sonko, in his statement, added that he would continue executing his mandate as governor in other roles, such as environmental protection, promising to restore Nairobi to its former ‘green’ glory.
Meanwhile, the state will continue prosecuting the governor over graft accusations, after the court on Wednesday quashed his petition to end his Ksh357 million corruption case.