Nairobi — A scandal is brewing at City Hall over an alleged planned payment of Sh2 billion to fifteen law firms as pending bills.
A contest over the planned payment was mounted Tuesday in a suit filed by lawyer Clinton Mwale in which Nairobi City County Government and Governor Johnson Sakaja were listed as respondents.
The Law Society of Kenya is listed as an interested party.
High Court judge Lawrence Mugambi has issued directing all the defendants be served in seven days.
"I have read the application dated June 20, 2023, together with the certificate of urgency and do hereby direct that: I decline all the ex-parte orders sought, the application be served within seven days," an order read in part.
Mwale filed the suit under a certificate of urgency.
The planned controversial payment, according to court documents, was set to be made before the end of the financial year set to lapse in a week.
According to documents filed in court, City Hall owed various law firms more than Sh21 billion as pending bills as of January 2023.
While questioning the modality used to identify the law firms to be paid, the petitioner contended that he had since learnt that the National Treasury is in the process of disbursing money to offset pending bills and that a plot had been hatched to selectively pay a few law firms.
Handpicked firms
Mwale claims the law firms were handpicked through discrimination considering other firms numbering 300 have equally provided legal services to the county.
"The applicant has since learnt that the National Treasury is in the process of disbursing some funds to the 1st respondent (Nairobi County government) for purposes of sorting pending bills and the applicant has further learnt that the 1st respondent has approved to pay around Kenya Shillings Two billion to less than 15 law firms," court papers read.
Filed court papers listed Makallah Theuri & Company Advocates (Sh60 million), L.N Nyaribo & Company (Sh50 million), Okatch & Partners (Sh70 million), Okubasu Munene & Kazungu Advocates (Sh30 million), GikundaMiriti & Company (Sh67 million) and Masire & Mogusu (Sh27.5 million) among firms identified for payment.
Others are: Anne Munene & Company (Sh34 million), Koceyo & Company Advocates (Sh43.8 million), Roba & Associates (51.8 million), Ummi Bashir & Company Advocates (Sh32 million), J.W Wachira Advocates (Sh58 million), Momanyi and Associates (Sh91 million), Jamal Bake & Associates (Sh47 million) and Bespoke Insurance Brokers Limited (Sh28 million).
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Also listed are Osoro Onyiego and Manyara Advocates (Sh30 million), Swanya and Company Advocates (Sh2.2 million), Arati and Company (Sh2.15 million), KO Advocates (Sh20 million), Moronge Advocates (Sh10 million) and Ojienda Co. Advocates (Sh5 million).
Previous contests
City Hall has been rocked by similar claims before with Nairobi County Assembly initiating a probe in March 2022 over the payment of Sh595 million in legal fees.
The inquiry by the Nairobi County Assembly Public Accounts Committee followed an audit query by the Auditor General into the county executive's legal fees expenditure.
According to the audit report, the county government made large payments as legal fees to various firms said to have offered legal services to the county.
However, according to the report said, the county executive did not provide documents such as the nature of disputes, approvals for procurement of professional services records, records of services rendered, and contract agreements for audit review.
The law firms cited at the time included Munikah and Co Advocates, Ataka Kimori and Okoth Advocates, Abdullahi and Co Advocates, Musyoki Mogaka and Co Advocates, Koceyo and Co Advocates, KwangaMboya and Co Advocates, Magoro and Co Advocates.
In concurrence with the Auditor General, the Assembly directed that no further legal fee payments should be made until a comprehensive audit is done.
