Nairobi County Moves to Tame KSh 20B Legal Bill with New Dispute Resolution Policy

Nairobi Members of County Assembly ( MCAs) now want the county executive to adopt alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to help cub the escalating rate of pending bills owed to legal firms.

The MCAs on Tuesday adopted a motion that prompts the executive through the office of the County Attorney to improvise three proposed mechanisms.

The motion moved my Karen ward MCA Anthony Maragu will see the County Attorney forced to ensure that court litigation is strictly used as a last resort in resolving disputes involving the county executive.

This will be achieved through establishment of a structured negotiation framework that will see the use of tribunals, mediation, conciliation and arbitration in line with article 159(2)(c) of the constitutional within 60 days.

The County Attorney will also have to develop a County Alternative Dispute Resolution policy to guide the resolution of disputes involving the county and it’s agencies within 60 days.

The MCAs are concerned that a significant portion of the County’s annual budget is spent on settling court awards and legal costs at the expense of development.

” Legal fees continue to form the biggest portion of all the pending bills with more than 20 billion now owed to legal firms and this is something that needs to be tamed,” Maragu said.

Some of the MCAs suspected foul play and deliberate attempts between legal firms and the county’s legal department in setting up fraudulent litigations to ultimately end up with legal fees.

They have also called on the Law Society of Kenya and the Senate to intervene and save counties from excessive legal fee charges.

The Auditor General has continuously questioned the billions of money counties owe legal firms with Nairobi notoriously topping the list