Nairobi Metropolitan Services now a public office

The Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) has officially been added as one of the offices falling under the Executive Office of the President.

The new development, contained in a revised Executive Order by President Uhuru Kenyatta, recognises the outfit as a public office.

This now means that NMS will be funded directly by the national government and have recruitment of its workers done directly by the Public Service Commission.

The office headed by Major General Mohammed Badi will be tasked with the implementation of the deed of transfer of functions executed between the national government and the Nairobi City County government.

NMS came into existence on March 18 when the deed of transfer of functions signed between Governor Mike Sonko and the State came into effect.

Under the deed, four county functions of health, transport, planning and management, and public works and ancillary services were transferred to the national government.

But last month, the president of Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Nelson Havi said NMS is not a legal entity as it does not meet the criteria of a public office.

Mr Havi was responding to a request by NMS deputy director general Enosh Onyango for the society to nominate an advocate of the High Court to be a member of a soon-to-be formed NMS Physical and Land Use Planning Liaison Committee.

In the May 15 letter, Mr Havi declined the request arguing that since the establishment of NMS lacks any legitimate legal foundation, they cannot nominate any of its members to serve in the liaison committee.

This, he said, is because there is no statutory instrument establishing NMS and therefore it is not a body established or recognised by law.

The LSK boss further pointed out that there isn’t publication of any statutory instrument prescribing and establishing NMS as an institutional framework pursuant to Article 7.1 of the deed and made in accordance with provisions of the Statutory Instruments Act, 2013.

Article 7.1 of the deed stipulates that the national government shall prescribe and establish an institutional framework for the execution of the transferred functions.

Consequently, Mr Havi explained, NMS fails to meet the criteria of a public office as outlined under Article 260 of the Constitution.

“After careful consideration of the above, and in the absence of a statutory instrument establishing NMS, we have made the conclusion that NMS is not a body established or recognised in law,” said Mr Havi in the letter.

“The same article further outlines state offices and state organs established under the Constitution. NMS does not make the list. It is therefore imperceptible from your letter under which written law NMS is established,” he added.