Karen Ward MCA David Mberia was on Thursday, February 25, handed a three-year jail sentence or pay a Ksh700,000 fine after he was found guilty of receiving Ksh1.7 million bribe.
Court reports indicated that the MCA received the bribe in exchange for resolving a land dispute involving a private school in Nairobi County.
The prosecution detailed in court that the MCA demanded the bribe from the owner of Kiragu Waichachi school in Nairobi County. According to court documents, the school is reportedly owned by former Nairobi Councillor Josephat Kiragu Waichahi.
The court heard and determined that the money was used to influence the outcome of an inquiry carried out by Culture and Social Services Committee of the Nairobi County Assembly to favor the private school.
Nairobi Chief Magistrate Thomas Nyioki ruled that the prosecution proved beyond any reasonable doubt that Mberia was guilty of taking the bribe.
However, Mberia's counterparts and co-accused Mathare MCA Jared Okode and Woodley MCA Abraham Mwangi were acquitted of the offense.
Okode and Mwangi were accused of demanding Ksh200,000 in order to sway the outcome of the Nairobi County Assembly's inquiry in favor of the school owners.
The judge ruled that the prosecution failed to provide enough evidence against the two.
Mberia risks losing his seat if he serves the three-year sentence according to the Kenya constitution 2010 under Article 193 (2).
"A person is disqualified from being elected a member of a county assembly if the person is serving a sentence of imprisonment of at least six months," part of the constitution reads.
According to the Kenya Bribery Act, 2016 a suspect found guilty of bribery attracts a fine not exceeding Ksh5 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.
This is not the first time that the Kiragu Waichachi school has been on the spotlight. Back in 2015, then Eastleigh South Ward MCA Nelson Masiga Marakalu was accused of inciting residents to destroy the private school property on claims that it was built on public land.
Marakalu was charged with allegedly destroying the school's property worth Ksh3.3 million.
