Deputy President William Ruto has weighed in on the case hanging over the head of Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.
The city governor has been the subject of investigations by EACC and DCI leading to his arrest on December 6, 2019.
According to a report by Nairobi News on Monday, December 23, DP Ruto predicted that Sonko would eventually triumph.
“Sonkoree is facing challenges but those will pass,” the Nation Media Group publication quoted Ruto speaking at Kambi Kuku Chicken Auction on Friday, December 20, 2019.
Senator Kipchumba Murkomen, a key ally of the deputy president is one of the lawyers representing Sonko in the Ksh375 million graft case.
Although President Uhuru Kenyatta criticised the conflict of interest whereby he called out state officers who engage in private practise, Murkomen on Saturday explained that by defending the Nairobi governor, he was protecting devolution.
He cried foul over what he called the government's concerted effort to kill devolution.
"Three governors are being told not to go to their offices. One governor informed me that they are cowering in fear. If they do not support BBI or the handshake, they are taken to the court and stripped of their powers and told to wait for their cases to be concluded in 2027," he alleged.
"You might not like your governor and even think of him as a thief, but I tell you, the fight is bigger than your governor. The fight is about the county governments trying to hold the national government responsible, and now that fight has been brought to undermine devolution," Mukomen stated.
"The first responsibility of the Senate is not oversight. It is to protect the county governments. I can tell you, I am no longer a small person. I was a lecturer at the university and wrote a lot on devolution. I understand devolution like the palm of my hand, and I can tell you that it is under threat," the senator warned.
