Senate impeached Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko upholding the decision by MCAs who impeached him from office on December 3, 2020.
88 MCAs had voted in favour of Sonko’s ouster. 27 out of 45 Senators voted in favour of Sonko's ouster.
Kenyans.co.ke is kept you updated on the proceedings of the case.
23:23: Mike Mbuvi Sonko is ousted as Nairobi Governor on Thursday night, December 17, after 27 out of 45 Senators voted to uphold the motion fronted by MCAs.
27 voted Yes, 16 voted No and two abstained (Makueni's Mutula Kilonzo and Nairobi's Johnson Sakaja) on all charges. These were gross misconduct, violation of the constitution, crimes under national law, and abuse of office.
21:26: Senate resumes sitting ahead of voting for or against Sonko's motion.
20:49: Speaker Ken Lusaka appreciates all sides in the case and the Senators too and allows Senators to vote. Senate goes into a closed session before an open voting process commences.
"Voting is optional. If you want to vote well and good, if not, then it is still okay," Lusaka says.
20:30: Sonko's lawyers asked the Senate to vote against his impeachment. They argue that some of the issues can be solved out of court through the formation of a commission.
18:05: "The County Assembly is inviting the Senate to impeach the Governor because he danced to a Party after Party song," Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua says.
Other Senators want the County Assembly to provide videos of lawmakers who logged in and voted to impeach Sonko. Pro-Sonko MCAs argued that their accounts were hacked.
Lawyer Njiru. who is representing the County Assembly is asked to defend the motion again. He defended the Speaker and the house and argued that they cannot lie to the Senate.
17:40: Senators weigh in on the impeachment case as they ready to vote.
16:30: Lawyer Njiru and Governor Sonko clash in Senate.
Njiru: You will answer the questions when I cross-examine you.
Sonko: Take me slowly. Usinikimbize. Mimi ni baba ya watoto (Do not rush me. I will answer your questions. Respect me as I am a family man). Some questions you can ask your legal friends.
Njiru: Are you speaking against your own evidence when you say you never declined to release bursaries? Go with me to volume 10.
Sonko: Why should I go with you? I can go alone!
The Senate bursts into laughter as the Speaker intervenes again.
16:14: Speaker intervenes and defends Sonko from cross-examination by Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru. The attorney wanted Sonko to explain more on allegations claiming that he declined to issue bursary funds.
"Take him slowly. Kindly give him time to response Mr Njiru," Lusaka stated as Sonko also weighed in adding that he would not fall into the lawyer's trap.
15:57: The governor defends allegations that he spent taxpayers money on his daughter. He argued that reports claiming that she enjoyed a trip worth Ksh 4.6 million to the US were false and exaggerated.
"The media reported doctored reports by MCAs alleging that she spent Ksh 840,000 on a first-class flight to New York," Sonko vented.
15:27: Sonko declines that he had violated the office and failed to make appointments in the Treasury docket. He also declined allegations that he embezzled funds through the Dandora Stadium project.
14:48: The governor adds that he rejected several budgets as they were illegal and interfered with some of the functions he never handed over.
"I met President Uhuru Kenyatta and he promised to help me handle these issues. I told him that he is being misled. However, he never told me that the General was going to take over the functions I handed over," Sonko argued.
14:37: Sonko argues that he did not break the law on deed of transfer which handed some of his roles to NMS.
"These people want us to break the law. The Treasury was aware of the delay in the release of funds as there were no regulations providing for the transfer of funds," he defended.
14:29: County Assembly attornies ask Sonko to respond to gross violation of the constitution and the deed of transfer which affected the Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
14:27: Lawyer Wilfred Nyamu asks Sonko if he has failed to offer bursaries. Sonko says that he has not failed to offer bursaries but only refused to release the money as the funds were under investigation.
14:26: Sonko proves that some money he was accused of failing to release had already been stolen by proxies in 2016-2017 and some were outdated and backdated.
14:10: Senate sitting resumes. Sonko continues with his defence against allegations fronted by MCAs.
13:00: Speaker adjourns proceedings for a lunch break.
12:47: The governor adds that other suspects even attempted to rob the County Government Ksh 3 million through forging bursaries. He claimed that some of these issues were inherent during former Governor Evans Kidero's regime.
"I stopped this scandal, Mr Speaker, during my regime," he argued.
12:44: Sonko adds that, alongside DCI, they raided a number of houses of the suspects and seized bursary applications and payment vouchers from the Nairobi County. The suspects (MCA proxies) were charged.
12:42: The Governor alleges that Joab Omondi, Francis Ouma and Odhiambo Ouma were among those who are related to MCAs and were part of the cartel he unearthed. Others were wives and assistants of various MCAs. This information, he says was availed to him by the DCI.
12:38: Sonko claims that the mover of his impeachment motion attempted to divert issues by alleging that there are cheques he (Sonko) refused to release.
"Some MCAs opened fake education accounts since 2013 and 2017 and I unearthed this scandal in 2017. The directors of these fake schools were wives and relatives of MCAs. They were receiving cheques from CDF accounts of various constituencies," the governor stated adding that DCI is privy to the matter and responded to him.
12:32: The governor plays a video to prove his innocence and counter claims that he embezzled bursaries for students. The video entails plans to provide funds for school children and a number of them lauding Sonko for offering them scholarships.
Sonko says that over 1,000 students benefitted from the plan. The video he adds was shot six months ago and was aired in the mainstream media.
12:26: Sonko says that some vouchers being fronted by the County Assembly were never paid as claimed.
"Mr Speaker, in my affidavit, I stated that we had the authority to incur Ksh 279 million for bursary fund and had the power to transfer it to bursary fund account. These funds were not released and that they are intact. Schools were closed during Covid-19 and this document shows that the mover of my motion exaggerated his claims," Sonko defended himself.
12:21: Governor Mike Sonko is called to the witness stand for cross-examination by County Assembly lawyers. He is accused of violation of the constitution, abuse of office and gross misconduct. Lawyer Nyamu says that Sonko used office money to illegally pay lawyers and garbage collectors.
12:16: Lawyer Wilfred Nyamu leads the provision of evidence against Mike Sonko as fronted by the County Assembly. The session by Defence team led by lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui has ended.
12:14: Speaker Ken Lusaka states that Senate will break for lunch at 1 pm.
12:12: "Are you a video editor, a professional photographer? What was the magnification ratio of the video?" Lawyer Ndegwa cross-examines Omari. Omari fails to answer adding that he edited the video on an office desktop.
12:02: Sonko's lawyer calls Kelvin Omari to the witness stand. He is the personal assistant to lawyer Ondieki who was denied access to County Assembly premises. He confirmed that they were prohibited to deliver documents and verified the video showing them being denied access.
11:58: Driver Nyakach fails to respond to whether he had an invitation and relevant documents allowing him to visit the County Assembly. He insists that they were denied access to the premises.
11:51: County Assembly lawyers cross-examine Nyakach who confirms that he is not a court official but just a driver.
“Being a driver, my job is carrying a document and not looking into the details of the documents,” he states after being asked if he knew the details of the document.
11:38: Douglas Ouma Nyakach, a driver in one of the law firms in Nairobi, Ondieki & Ondieki Advocates, is called to the stand
He recalls that he went to Nairobi County Assembly with his lawyer, Ondieki Ondieki who was denied access by police to serve the Speaker of the Assembly with the documents against Sonko’s impeachment case.
“It was chaotic and we could not deliver the documents,” he says.
11:10: Emmanuel Kenga (retired police officer) is called to the witness stand. He defends Sonko against the motion. He disputed the signatures appended by MCAs to kick out Sonko.
"Some of the signatures were made by the same handwriting," he claims.
11:00: Ndegwa Njiru, the lawyer representing County Assembly cross-examines Museiya with the latter confirming that she went to Kwale on her own volution.
10:50: MCA Museiya says that MCAs went to Kwale to follow Sonko’s impeachment case and that their accounts were hacked. “I did not log in but my account was active,” she says.
10:45: Museiya states that ODM Party also fined its MCAs in Nairobi and threatened them to send Sonko home.
10:30: “It was procured by duress and coercion and leadership of the house. There was a disciplinary process against us by Jubilee Party and two days before impeachment we were suspended and de-whipped from our committees,” Museiya states.
10:20: Museiya argues that the Jubilee leadership orchestrated the impeachment motion against Sonko. She added that some lawmakers were intimidated to vote in its favour.
10: 10: MCA Sylvia Museiya and Chair of the Education Committee defends Mike Sonko against the impeachment motion.
10:00: Day two proceedings of Sonko’s case begins.
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