A section of Nairobi County Members of Parliament (MPs) has exposed internal struggles with their relationship with Governor Johnson Sakaja.

Speaking during a joint live TV interview on Thursday, April 17, 2025, the MPs revealed that the governor has persistently turned down their gestures to work together with them, and had sidelined some of the development programmes in their constituencies.

“I have persistently tried to reach the Governor in vain; some of these MPs here will tell you the same thing that he neither picks our phone calls or meets us,” Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi said.

“Any governor who is working with local leaders, including MCAs and MPs, has their job made easy.”

His sentiments were echoed by Starehe MP Amos Mwago, who equally lamented the strained relationship with the leadership of Nairobi County, noting that it was irreparable.

“The governor of Nairobi sidelined us right from the time we were elected on an Azimio la Umoja ticket. I am not sure whether it will be possible to sit down together with him and salvage the situation with just two years remaining until the next election,” Mwago stated.

Equally, Lang’ata MP Phelix Odiwuor, also known as Jalang’o, observed that the strained relations with the County government continue to hamper service delivery in the various constituencies in Nairobi.

“If we could be able to work together with the 17 constituencies of Nairobi, it would be a very good thing, but a lot of projects in our constituencies have stalled due to the lack of proper coordination with the county leadership,” Odiwuor said.

Same predicament

Embakasi West MP Mark Mwenje, however, indicated that while the strained relations were evident in Nairobi, several other counties also face the same predicament.

“We have a few challenges here and there on our coordination with the County government, but I do not think it is just Nairobi alone, but several other counties in the country,” Mwenje noted.

Adding: “Counties are allocated huge sums of money, but they cannot deliver tangible benefits to the people, yet as MPs, we manage to impact lives with the funds from NG-CDF and KeRRA.”

His Embakasi East counterpart, Babu Owino, equally blamed Sakaja for what he termed as failing to coordinate with the elected leaders in Nairobi to deliver services.

“I am proud of being Embakasi East MP, but not as proud to be associated with Nairobi County. All the 17 MPs in Nairobi County work very hard, but they are neglected as orphans by the County Governor,” Owino noted.

“Age is still on my side, and I could harbour my political ambitions until later. However, if Nairobi County was working well, nobody would be seeking to unseat the current leadership.”

On his part, Kibra MP Peter Orero urged governors to refrain from sidelining MPs, and instead work together with them to deliver services to the people.

“Governors think of MPs as enemies. They only focus on MCAs and senators, and this should be re-examined as it was not envisioned at the inception of devolution,” Orero remarked.

Babu Owino and Tim Wanyonyi are some of the leaders who have declared an interest in unseating Sakaja in the 2027 elections.

This is despite ODM Party leader Raila Odinga’s remarks earlier in the year, where he seemed to have endorsed Sakaja, much to the chagrin of his party’s diehards.