Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has made a clarification that his administration has paid Ksh 287 million in legal fees and refuted claims that the county had settled Ksh 10 Billion.
In a statement dated April 11, Sakaja said that the Ksh10 billion that is pending to be paid to various law firms was not incurred during his tenure but during the term of his predecessors noting that his administration was obliged to settle the debts once their authenticity is determined.
Sakaja also disclosed that the Nairobi County Government had been awarded costs in 12 cases which the office of the Attorney General was following up on the payments to the tune of Ksh 100 Million.
At the same time, Sakaja said, the County Government of Nairobi had before his election depended on services of external advocates but now, 72 out of the active 827 court cases are being handled by internal counsel.
“Before I came into office, all civil cases were handled by external advocates. Currently, a total number of 72 civil cases out of the active 827 are being handeled by internal counsel. Additionally, ta address the huge problem of pending bills in unpaid legal fees, I directed the County Attorney to appoint a legal fees assessment committee composed of five advocates. The committee has so far reviewed 44 fee notes,” Governor Sakaja said.
“The committee has so far reviewed 44 fee notes and the process is still ongoing. The initial demanded amount in the 44 matters that had previously been assessed by an individual was Ksh5,112,019,527. After reassessment, The amount now stands at Ksh2,399,655,042, therefore, saving the County Government a total of Ksh2,712,364,485,” The county boss reported.
Sakaja expressed that the exercise was still ongoing maintaining that city residents would get value for their money once the process was completed.
However, he also expressed that the county government could not continue depending on external law firms to represent the county in court adding that they will be hiring lawyers for the country to undertake that exercise.
Sakaja added that they would be working with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to ensure that the lawyers are properly remunerated so that their position can attract many lawyers.
“During the 19th County Executive meeting, approval was granted for the restructuring of the office of the County Attorney’s office to expand the staffing levels.
“50 lawyers will be employed to boost internal capacity with a view of handling all legal matters internally and saving costs incurred from engaging external counsel,” he added.