By The Weekly Vision
The embattled Director of Intergovernmental Relations at the County Government of Nairobi Joyce Kinyanjui has come out to claim that Governor Johnson Sakaja is pushing her out of the lucrative position. The governor was overheard telling a close ally how Joyce cannot be trusted having testified against his predecessor Mike Sonko during his impeachment debate at the Senate, she claims. Sources well versed with the happenings at City Hall revealed that Governor Sakaja has openly shown discomfort working with Joyce, with reports indicating that she has grown closer to Deputy Governor Muchiri Njoroge something the governor has not taken kindly.
Perhaps unaware that she has been on the governor’s radar for some time now, Joyce is said to be a frequent visitor to the DG’s office briefing him on each move instead of briefing her boss governor Sakaja considering that there exists a frosty relationship between the governor and his deputy. She is being blamed for leaking sensitive information to the DG which could eventually come back to haunt the governor just as she did with ex-governor Sonko. Governor Sakaja’s allies have been pushing him to transfer her to a less sensitive docket. Acting on a report from his adviser’s advice, the governor has now created two positions to dilute and clip her wings.
The Public Service Board, acting on the governor’s directive, advertised for the newly created positions of Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Relations and Assistant Director of Intergovernmental Relations, the positions have since been filled with the governor’s confidantes. Following the appointments of Joyce’s assistant and deputy, she has been left with no portfolio, she just reports to the office without assignment. Investigations reveal that almost all her duties are now on her deputy’s desk with sources saying that it is just a matter of time before she is transferred to another department.
There are calls to transfer her to Nyayo House in the Department of Tourism or Agriculture. It has been a common practice at City Hall that all “unwanted” officers are transferred from the main city Hall to Nyayo House which houses the Tourism and Agriculture dockets. Although she claims that she is being sacrificed for testifying against Sonko.
During Sonko’s impeachment, she was allegedly used by State House operatives to implicate Sonko, she released very sensitive and confidential information that implicate the former governor. She was to land a lucrative State Job courtesy of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga after Sonko’s impeachment but it never came to pass.
At one point during the impeachment debate, she requested to testify in camera to conceal her identity for fear of victimization by Sonko and his supporters. Still, the Senate Speaker declined the request forcing her to testify in public. It was Kinyanjui who revealed that she released Ksh. 2.6m to Saumu Mbuvi, (Sonko’s daughter) which she claimed to have withdrawn in cash from the Co-Operative Bank, City Hall branch and handed it over to the head of Sonko’s security, Inspector Chris Onguso who handed it over to Sonko. She also revealed that she had been forced to include Saumu’s name in the list of county staff travelling for a conference where she was designated as Ward Administrator yet she was not a county employee. It is against such fears that Governor Sakaja has been warned by allies against working with Joyce Kinyanjui. She is also suspected of having released sensitive documents to implicate former Governor Ann Kananu, the former governor allegedly received per diem for an overseas trip
Joyce Kinyanjui’s office is responsible for the approval of various payments. Going forward, she will be required to shed light on the expenditure of Ksh. 323,281,087 for domestic travel and subsistence which includes Ksh. 13,074,060 that was paid as subsistence allowances to staff members without evidence confirming that they participated in the events for which the allowances were paid. Further approvals were made for payments of foreign travel and subsistence expenditure of Ksh. 166,768,849 which constitutes Ksh. 11,422,273 whose supporting documents such as attendance registers, reports of work performed or programs by staff members, invitations to various overseas pieces of training and workshops, imprest requisitions and applications, and proof of travel documents like boarding passes, stamped passports to various destinations were not provided. In the Auditor general’s report covering the financial year 2020/2021, training expenses amounting to Ksh. 164,645,324 which includes Ksh. 13,292,580 was paid in respect of various training programs. However, support documents such as need assessment reports, training programs from training institutions, invitations to the training and authentic travel documents among other information were not available.
According to the report, Ksh. 4,864,960 was spent on supply and delivery of assorted office equipment which constituted six (6) laptops and eight (8) mobile iPhones at a unit price of Ksh. 296,760 and Ksh. 261,300 respectively totalling Ksh. 3,870,960. However, serial numbers for the equipment were not indicated on the delivery notes and the list of beneficiaries issued with the laptops and phones was not provided for verification.
