General Badi to Governor Mike Sonko I am the City Boss you signed the deed of transfer

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 6
Over 6,000 City Hall workers whose functions were transferred to the national government under General Badi kicked off at Uhuru Park on Monday, amid strict social distancing regulations thanks to covid-19.

Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director General Mohamed Badi who was personally overseeing the exercise said the newly established authority will send deployment letters to 3,000 employees by April 10, 2020.

The Director General explained that staff in the public health department who are in the front-line fighting coronavirus in health facilities across the city will not have to present themselves to Uhuru Park for they will be issued with their letters at their respective work stations.

” By Friday we will have issued 3000 workers with their letters, health workers will continue with their duties and my staff will issue them with letters from their places of work,” Badi said.

The employees who turned up for the exercise also adhered to strict public health guidelines including a social distancing and wearing of face masks by standing at designated marked spots.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has protested the move by the national
government agency citing that it was hijacking functions that were not transferred to the national government in a deal signed last month.

Sonko had, on Saturday, April 4, expressed his displeasure and disappointment at how some officials from the national government had chosen to pursue the implementation of the Deed of Transfer of Functions.

In the letter, the governor had criticised the NMS boss and the Public Service Commission for summoning six thousand and fifty-two employees at Uhuru Park in an exercise that was expected to run on Monday and Tuesday, April 7.

In his argument, Sonko cited President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive barring public gathering in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.

“There is a Presidential Directive expressly prohibiting all public gatherings. It is therefore the height of impunity for the newly created Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), through the Public Service Commission (PSC), to purport to summon 6,052 employees of the Nairobi City County Government to KICC on Monday and Tuesday next week.

“It is a total disregard to the great risk they shall be exposing these employees to, as the country battles with the COVID-19 pandemic that has so far claimed four (4) lives and infected over 100 people,” Sonko stated.

In a rejoinder NMS boss Major Geneneral Badi said “Governor Mike Sonko personally signed the Deed of Transfer and handed over the four key functions to the National Government and I’m the one in charge of those functions now. I officially took them over on March 18, 2020, and on top of that, the Nairobi County Assembly had a Special Sitting where they approved the handover of those functions to me “

“I have authority over the personnel and even the assets including vehicles as well as the offices that had been assigned to these four departments which are now under my control,” he added.

Unfortunately his eleventh hour attempts did not yield to anything as the exercise went on under the supervision of General Badi