Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko's Wife Primrose Mbuvi on Friday, July 10, got orders restricting the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) from interfering in her property.
Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku overruled an order obtained by EACC to evaluate the property that hosts Sonko's private office.
"The order issued on June 23 including any further implementation or execution of the said order in the interests of justice and fairness is hereby stayed,” the order read in part.
Primrose, who is the director of Primix Enterprises Limited argued that the orders issued by the anti-corruption body to conduct an evaluation of the property that hosts Sonko’s private office were unlawful.
Through her lawyer, Harrison Kinyanjui, she argued that there was no reason for the issuance of the orders.
“The application dated 23 June was filed in bad faith and malice. If the orders granted to EACC are not stayed then the respondents are likely to proceed and execute them leading the company to suffer irreparable and permanent damage,” Kinyanjui argued.
On June 30, police officers stormed Sonko's offices situated at Upper Hill in an attempt to evict him.
According to a representative in the Governor's office, Sonko was in the process of acquiring the contested land parcel after its sale was gazetted in 2017 and the governor showed interest.
The parcel was valued at Ksh500 million but Sonko entered into an agreement to acquire it for Ksh498 million for which he had made a downpayment of Ksh144.6 million.
"The land is worth Ksh500 million. It was Gazetted in 2017. Entered into an agreement to lease the land for office sale in 2017. It served as his campaign center in May 2017 and served as a tallying center for Jubilee
"In Feb 2019, under tender number krsrds/02/plm.2019, the trustees placed another open tender which the governor won on April 30, 2019, to purchase Ksh498 million. Sonko paid Ksh144.6 million as downpayment," The governor's communications representative Jacob Elkana stated.
The dispute, which dates back to 2016, had compelled the governor to express interest in acquiring the parcel with his counsel prepping for a court battle for its acquisition.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) opened investigations into the controversial land in 2019 which is said to belong to the Kenya Railways Corporation.
