How Sakaja’s PR gimmicks end up putting City Hall in legal troubles

From accusations of poor service to struggles in raising revenue for the county to meet set targets, the Nairobi City County Government has been accused of engaging in public relations stunts to appear as though they are delivering, while some of their actions have landed them in legal suits.

A section of Nairobians has expressed their disappointment with nothing in the City County working, adding that even though the Members of County Assembly have colluded with the executive, the next General Elections will come and they’ll send the first-time governor home.

Nairobians who spoke to The Informer Media Group said the Governor Johnson Sakaja’s slogan of “Let us Make Nairobi Work” is a dream that is yet to be realised in the city.

“Nothing seems to be working in Nairobi. But you’ll always see our governor everywhere saying Inawork’” the residents said.

PR gimmicks by the county have always backfired or ended up in long legal battles in courts.

For example, every time the rainy season comes, the Sakaja-led administration has always come out to help those affected by floods with foodstuffs and beddings without offering a permanent solution to the drainage systems, which have always been the major cause of flooding.

This is even as the county has continued to approve building constructions without considering that the old sewerage system is unable to hold more of the huge, growing population.

When fires break out in the common slum areas, with a recent rise in numbers, which have even been fatal, the county will always visit the victims and share the beddings plus foodstuffs, making more unfulfilled promises as they leave them to suffer.

Gikomba Market, the largest mitumba market in East and Central Africa’s dreams of having a fire station and perimeter wall to secure it from fires that have always led to millions of losses is yet to come, even with the Nairobi County Assembly having previously allocated funds to cater for that.

When the fires break and the county visits, it is always with the same PR stunts and ‘fake promises’
Some of the cases, like Gikomba Fire Station, Perimeter wall, and Toi market perimeter wall, among others, have even been brought to the limelight through the reports by the Auditor General.

While the county government recently engaged in an exercise to clamp and evict rate defaulters across the city, some of the cases have already landed them in legal battles.

While some of the people whom the county claims have not paid rates, the institutions that have filed petitions in court suing City Hall claim the county executive has been aware of some of them being exempted from paying rates, and even having been cleared, as they have clean records.

This raises the questions on why the city administration clamped down on PR or whether they did it to show everything is working?

This includes recent cases where the Sakaja-led administration has been sued by two entities for illegally clamping their building.

In the two cases filed at the high court, the petitioners’ claim that City Hall was aware they were not owed a cent but went ahead to even destroy their property while clamping them.

In the first case, by the Masonic Trustee City before Justice Bahati Mwamuye, City Hall is being requested to pay for the damages caused to their property on the said day.

They claimed that the Sakaja administration was aware that they were exempt from paying rates.

They accused the country team, which led the clampdown on their property, of damage after they decided to encroach on their Nyerere Road property.

“On 14th May 2025, the Respondent, acting through its agents and/or representatives, unlawfully entered upon the Petitioner’s property, used excessive force to demolish the gate, and affixed a notice indicating that the petitioner had defaulted in the payment of land rates to a tune of Sh19 million and that, consequently, the property was now under the management of the respondent,” the petition filed by Rachier and Amollo advocates stated in part.

It told the court that registered in Kenya under the Societies Act, Chapter 108 of the Laws of Kenya, carrying out charitable activities in the country, and were granted an exemption from the payment of land rates through Legal Notices number 389 and 390 of 1990.

The petition further revealed that City Hall was aware, by their various correspondences, that they were not to pay the rates.

“The said legal notices have not been overtaken by any subsequent events or revoked by any other notices, and accordingly, they remain valid and continue to govern and bind the conduct of the relationship between the petitioner and the respondent,” the court was told.

It added that this was not the first clampdown by the city government, as they said they had previously done the same but backed down upon being informed of the exemption. “It is for this reason that the petitioner was greatly shocked and dismayed by the respondent’s invasion of its property on 14th May 2025, notwithstanding the continued existence and validity of the said exemption,” it stated.

The society complained that the county had illegally, and with impunity, disrupted its quiet without an explanation of how and why it should pay the rates. It urged the court to intervene as the county cannot keep its word.

“The respondent, by its conduct, has breached Article 47 of the Constitution, which establishes a legitimate expectation that, as a public body, it is bound to honor its own decisions. Consequently, the petitioner has continued to operate its activities on the said property with the reasonable belief and assurance that the respondent would respect the exemption granted under the exemption notice,” they said.

It now wants City Hall to compensate them for violating their rights, as they requested the court to find that the county cannot demand rates that it had forfeited.

In the second case, Chester House has sued the devolved unit for incorrectly listing them as rate defaulters.

The building owners in their petition said that the county government’s threat to enforce land rate payments was unlawful, mistaken, and potentially destructive, as there were no arrears.

It also sought sought temporary orders to prevent the county government from taking enforcement action that could disrupt the dozens of professional and commercial businesses operating from the premises.

“The applicant has fully paid land rates for the year 2025 in respect of its property and holds official receipts and invoices confirming this fact, yet fears imminent, unjustified and reputational damaging action damaging action by the respondent, akin to what befell Kenya Power and Lighting Company at Stima Plaza,” an affidavit by the company director, Jared Benson Kangwana, stated in part.

The notice by NCCG claimed that Chester House had rent arrears of Sh122,500 and Sh46 million, respectively, but Chester House claimed it had no connection with the listed land parcels.

“The centrality of Chester House within Nairobi’s commercial fabric makes it especially vulnerable to reputational harm. A single day of closure or disruption could irreversibly damage tenant relationships, contractual obligations,” he averred.

According to the petition, the county enforcement officers embarked on aggressive measures without verifying the specific property or issuing notice to the affected owners. The proprietor argued that, in a lawful society, entities accused of default are entitled to fair administrative action, including proper notice, an opportunity to respond, and access to an independent adjudicator if disputes arise.

Earlier this year, City Hall was engaged in a dirty scuffle with Kenya Power, where they dumped waste outside their offices as they went ahead and disrupted the sewerage and water system of the Stima Plaza Complex, which isowned by Stima Sacco.

Did the county government not know that KPLC was not the legal owner of the building? Did they not care about the health hazards caused by their actions to Nairobians?

A day later, after the dirty PR, the City governor apologized to Nairobians as the head of Public Service called him to a meeting with KPLC and resolved the outstanding beef between the two.

At the same time, the county government disconnected fibre optic connections by removing cables from the its posts, which led to the Communication Authority to issue a warning to the city administration.

Does City Hall engage in some of these gimmicks to flex muscles with the people involved or just to show the extent they can go?

Our calls to Sakaja and the County SecretaryGodfrey Akumali in a bid to understand why they were using the PR gimmicks were not answered.