Sonko’s Nairobi To Sue KRA, CBK Bosses Over Sh4.49bn Withheld Funds

The Nairobi County government has threatened to sue Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) boss James Mburu jailed over Sh4.49 billion that was withdrawn from the county’s recurrent expenditure account going against a court order.

Through advocate Cecil Miller, The Mike Sonko administration says the taxman went ahead to disobey court orders they had obtained stopping KRA from enforcing the agency notes when the amount was withdrawn. The said enforced agency notices were initially issued on December 6, 2016 and fresh ones on April 12, 2019.

Due to the encroachment by the taxman, Mr Miller now says county operations have come to a stand as it has no money for its recurrent expenditure. The enforcement, he says, was calculated to cause economic sabotage and to blackmail the county government into giving in to KRA’s demand.

The withdrawal of the money was also in violation of a Public Finance Management Act as the county exchequer was withdrawn without approval from the controller of budget. The money, withdrawn from the County Revenue Fund, was not authorised, contrary to Article 207(2) of the constitution.

The administration says County officials are yet to be paid since the county is unable to meet any of its recurrent expenditures and service deliveries.

This comes as counties stare at a financial crisis that could cripple their operations after the tenure of the acting Controller of Budget Stephen Masha ended before releasing funds to the devolved units