The anti-corruption court in Nairobi on Friday, September 19, agreed to release Ksh15 million that had been deposited as cash bail by Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu after his persistent pleas.
The embattled governor had to deposit a surety of the same value in place of the refunded cash.
Waititu had approached the court pleading for his money back stating that he had been financially overwhelmed and needed the cash bail to meet his daily obligations.
Governor Waititu on Thursday, September 18, managed to post the surety according to the terms set by the court on July 30. This was the only issue that was blocking the refund.
The county head had deposited the amount with the registrar of courts in a corruption case in which his wife is also charged.
Waititu and his wife Susan Wangari were, among other charges, accused of receiving over Ksh25 million from Testimony Enterprises Limited, a company that the County Government of Kiambu awarded contracts.
This comes barely a day after Waititu was ranked as the worst-performing governor in a survey conducted by All Africa Advisors (AAA), a London-based pollster.
Waititu like all other governors trashed the report stating that it was malicious and untrue.
"Hiyo iko siasa ndani yake hiyo ya Kiambu, kuna bloggers wametumiwa kuniharibia jina. Kuna mahesabu imefanywa hapo. (There's a lot of politicking at play here, there are bloggers have been hired to tarnish my name. The poll is a result of some sinister calculations). Just go to the ground and talk to the people directly, things are quite different over there," he maintained.
According to AAA, the governors were ranked on the basis of the development status in their respective counties.
