Pensioners in Nairobi were on Labour Day gifted by Nairobi GovernorMike Sonko who announced that they will soon have their debts settled.
According to Sonko, his county government is advanced talks with thenational government to have the monies owed to the county by thenational government go to settling pension scheme debts like those ofLaptrust and Lapfund.
“My county government is negotiating with the national government touse some of the money the national government owes us, to settle thedebts the county government owes pension schemes like Laptrust andLapfund.
“Our talks are at an advanced stage and we hope to settle some of our debts in the next few weeks,” said Sonko during the Labour Daycelebrations at Uhuru Park in Nairobi.
The good news was well received as Uhuru Park erupted in a joyousfrenzy with residents singing Sonko praises.
Cotu boss Francis Atwoli lauded the move as genius saying service toNairobi residents is always a boost to the Kenyan economy.
“I concur with Governor Mike Sonko on services delivery and toNairobians. He signed an MOU with workers on salary increment but theissues is being handled by salaries and numeration commission,” Atwoli
said.
Among those attended the celebrations are former Vice President andWiper leader Kalonzo Musyoska, Amani National Congress leader MusaliaMudavadi, Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula, and a host of MPsincluding Mishi Mboko (Likoni), Teddy Mwambire (Ganze), Esther Pasaris(Nairobi county), among others.
Recently, Sonko signed an agreement with the city county workers tohave their salaries increased.
There are more than 12,200 employees in the Nairobi county government,with a total monthly wage bill of about Sh1.1 billion.
“With the pay rise we recently awarded our staff, our salaries nowtotal Sh15 billion shillings a year,” said Sonko, raising concern onthe need to have more revenue streams for the county.
On this account, he called on the national government to ensureNairobi and other counties get more resources arguing that devolvedresponsibilities should come with devolved resources.
Sonko wants the county to get at least five to 10 per cent of therevenue collected at the Nairobi National Park, which the county hostsyet all collections go to the national government.
“All the levies from the hotel industry also go to the nationalgovernment. We must, in the spirit of devolution, share this revenue,”he said.
“We are asking Kenya Wildlife Services to remit at least five to 10percent of collections from the Nairobi National Park to the NairobiCounty Government. We also want a share of the taxes on bed occupancyin hotels within Nairobi, without increasing the tax burden on theindustry,” he noted.
This, he said, will go a long way to covering the increased wage billthe county has incurred with the recent increase in salaries to thecounty staff.
Sonko said advancing the rights and welfare of workers in the countyis among his priorities and although there are still some unresolvedissues, most of the workers’ concerns have been addressed.
“We may still have a few unresolved issues, but I have expressed mycommitment to address all the challenges facing county workers,” hesaid.
He said the opposition to the salary increment for the county workersby the Salaries and Remuneration Commission which led to a strike costthe county more than Sh300 million in revenue collection.
“Nairobi County Government lost at least Sh50 million every day, forseveral days because the strike happened during the high revenueseason,” said Sonko.
He noted that Nairobi was among the few county governments thathonoured its deal with the Kenya Union of Nurses and the Kenya Unionof Clinical Workers, settling outstanding claims.
He said though the county is striving towards improving the standardsof living for the Nairobi residents, there are still challenges thatare experienced, especially in the health sector, because the current15 per cent allocation from the national government is not enough.
He said most counties inherited huge bills from the defunct countycouncils and previous regimes with Nairobi in particular inheritingpending bills amounting to Sh60 billion.
Sonko also announced a rent arrears waiver for those living in thecounty residential estates.
This, he said, was to address the plight of retired county governmentworkers who still live in county houses, and most of who have fallenvictim to cartels that evict them and allocate the houses to otherpeople.
“I urge tenants in county houses to ensure that they now pay theirrent on time,” said Sonko.
He said the county will soon replace county rent cards, and introducetenancy agreements, or lease agreements.