BY SHADRACK NYAKOE
Any Nairobi MCA or staff who will visit the United Arab Emirates or is on transit will be arrested and locked up until the Nairobi County Assembly settles a legal fee of kshs 2.5 million.
The fees were incurred by the Assembly after suspended Clerk Jacob Ngwele was arrested in Dubai on 9th June 2019 when he failed to pay TBLDC Consultants money owed to them after they offered trainings to MCAs.
According to a demand letter from TBLDC lawyer sent to him on February 8th this year, Ngwele was arrested while in Dubai after the Assembly failed to pay a total of USD 37,905 which is kshs 3.8 million.
“The Dubai Court of Justice issued two valid judgements in favor of the service providers against the County Assembly of Nairobi vide Dubai Court Judgement number 656/2019 and 1952 of 2019. Consequently, the service provider incurred a total of USD 23,500 in legal fees in relation to the matter,” said TBLDC lawyer Abdallah Bin Hatem to Ngwele.
The lawyer went on to say that the Assembly was duly served with all the requisite notices and also served with all the court documents but ignored the same and chose not to enter appearance in court upon which Judgement was entered against the Assembly and its officers.
The letter said the Court awarded TBLDC the costs relating the case which is kshs 2.5 million.
“On 9th June 2019, while on a visit in Dubai, the Dubai Court enforced the orders against you after which you settled the Principal claim and entered into an agreement with our law firm to clear the legal fees and court fines once you go back to Kenya. To date, the mount remains outstanding and has not been settled,” Lawyer Hatem said.
The lawyer said that TBLDC had obtained court orders in 2019 that any MCA from Nairobi or staff be arrested while in Dubai if the County doesn’t pay the money.
“Take notice that failure to pay the aforementioned legal and Court fees, we shall have no recourse but to enforce the Judgment against the County Assembly of Nairobi and any of its staff and officer when travelling to UAE or on transit ,” Hatem said.
The deadline to pay the legal fees has since lapsed and MCAs together with staff should be worried because they will be arrested if they set foot in Dubai.
The current leadership led by Speaker Beatrice Elachi has declined to clear the debt saying Ngwele should carry his own cross.
“Some of those trainings were not approved by the County Assembly Service Board. People took their girlfriends who are not MCAs to Dubai. We won’t pay,” said another member of the County Assembly Service Board who requested anonymity.
On Tuesday, word went around that Ngwele had been summoned by DCI detectives from Central Police Station to record a statement on the saga.
Nairobi West MCA Maurice Gare said he had been summoned to record a statement over “human trafficking” after he helped a former ODM MCA get a UK visa l to travel and work in UK.
Hot News visited Central Police Station and caught up with him.
He was grilled for over 5 hours.
He told Hot News he visited Central Police station to request for police escort to go back to City Hall and take back his office.
MCAs ejected him from City Hall saying he has never been vetted and proved by the Assembly.
He told Hot News he is still the Clerk of the Assembly.
“Nairobi has a debt for in Dubai just as the National Government has debts. I came to respond on behalf of Nairobi as the substantive clerk and that does not mean I’m the suspect,” he said.
The detectives also remained silent why Ngwele was at the Station.
When we asked OCPD Mark Wnajala why Ngwele was at the Station, he referred us to the DCIO Jason Maingi Mworia.
Mworia said two MCAs had reported Ngwele to the DCI over abuse of office and misappropriation of funds.
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