Sakaja ordered to pay Sh1.3 billion pending bill to city lawyer Donald Kipkorir
Chigiti stated that the City County did not justify why they delayed paying for the legal services offered by the law firm, as he added that a decline to grant the compelling orders for the payment to be done would leave KTK without an effective remedy despite holding the decrees.
The Nairobi City County government has been ordered to pay Ksh 1.3 billion pending bill to KTK Advocates, a law firm owned by prominent lawyer Donald Kipkorir.
High Court Justice John Chigiti ordered the Johnson Sakaja-led administration to pay the law firm within 60 days, together with the interest accrued.
In his ruling, Justice Chigiti stated that the City County government did not justify why they delayed paying for legal services offered by the law firm, adding that declining to grant compelling orders for the payment to be done would leave KTK Advocates without an effective remedy despite holding the decrees.
The judge emphasised that the law firm was entitled to be paid by City Hall.
“The respondents have failed, refused, and neglected to settle the amount owed to the KTK law firm. The court is satisfied that the advocates had a legitimate expectation that the Sakaja-led administration would settle the claims as set out in the certificate order against the County, which City Hall has failed to pay without any explanation,” Chigiti stated.
The orders come after Kipkorir’s law firm accused City Hall of refusing to pay Ksh 1,338,709,582 without justification on why they have never paid.
At the same time, City Hall never filed pleadings to oppose the application by the law firm.
The county and national governments had previously stated that the reason for not clearing the pending bill was due to lack of funds, an allegation that the court dismissed.
KTK Advocates argued that since the respondents were protected by the law against execution, they (KTK) had no other way to secure compliance with the decree apart from obtaining the court orders.
“Despite being served with the decree and demand, respondents failed and refused to settle the amount,” KTK Advocates told the court.
Chigiti observed that the county was not in dispute over having been furnished with Certificates of order.
The accrued fees come after KTK Advocates represented the then City Council and later the Nairobi City County government.
In the first case, KTK Advocates represented the defunct council against the Ministry of Defence in a case involving land on which the Embakasi Garrison stands.
The council accused the national government, through the Kenya Defence Forces, of forcibly taking the 3,000 acres of land valued at Ksh 6.5 billion.
The case, which was filed in 2012 at the Environment and Lands Court, was withdrawn in 2021 with consent from the two parties involved.
By then, the relationship between KTK and City Hall had turned sour, but in May 2022, the court awarded the law firm the stated fees.
In the second case, the county government was ordered to pay Ksh 697,876 in legal fees to the law firm for the services offered to it in a constitutional petition by the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
In the petition against the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company and the County government, a KNH officer had allegedly breached the city by-laws by obstructing the fire brigade from drawing water within the hospital.
Kipkorir defended the county, and in a June 2017 ruling, the court ruled in favour of his submissions.
Writing previously on his X account, Kipkorir stated that he ceased representing City Hall in 2018 after the County government failed to pay his fees as stipulated in the Advocates Act.
