Sonko Shifts War to Judges

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on Thursday, December 19 moved to the High Court seeking to have orders restraining three judges from hearing his ongoing anti-corruption case.

As first reported by Citizen TV, Sonko through his lawyers wants Judges Mumbi Ngugi, John Onyiego and Ngenye Macharia to recuse themselves from hearing his Ksh357 million corruption case.

The governor filed the application citing that the judges are not free from bias in handling his corruption case expected to resume in January 2020.

This came only a day after the governor had moved to court through his lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui in a bid to bar county assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi from assuming any functions of the governor’s office.

The governor filed a certificate of urgency arguing that no vacancy had constitutionally arisen in the elected post of Nairobi City County Governor to warrant the Speaker’s assumption to the corner office.

The governor further argued that at the time the order was made, he was in the process of appointing a Deputy Governor to help him run the county only to be cut short by the litigation process.

Further, the lawyers requested the court to review his bail terms that were issued on December 11.

In the December 11 ruling, Justice Douglas Ogoti ruled that the Nairobi Governor pay a cash bail of sh 15 million that would warrant his release.

Governor Sonko was arrested on December 6 at Voi, Mombasa county after the director of public prosecutions issued a warrant of arrest on him.

The DPP indicated that Sonko was fully accountable for the loss of sh 357 million shillings that belonged to Nairobi county.