LSK says Sonko was impeached for refusing to release Sh37B ‘illegal’ Budget

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has claimed that former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko was impeached for refusing to release Sh37B illegal budget which had been stopped by the High Court.

While appearing on Citizen TV’s Newsnight program on Tuesday, LSK President Nelson Havi said that it was of concern that immediately after Sonko was impeached as Governor, Speaker Benson Mutura who took over briefly as acting governor moved colossal amounts of money from the county coffers to the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), despite a court order suspending the appropriation act.

‘This should be an issue of great concern to Kenyans because NMS itself is an entity whose legal credibility cannot be found. Why is it given monies that are intended to be used by officials of the county government that are duly elected? Therein lies the problem,’ Havi noted.

Havi said that Sonko was systematically impeached so as to ensure that the county funds are accessed easily and given to NMS, despite the fact that the basis of impeaching him lacked merit.

‘The intention was, saddle the Governor with criminal charges, proceed to impeach him even before the criminal charges are determined, on grounds that are very sloppy, and then in the intervening period get the Speaker as the acting Governor, have him permit the withdrawal of this money, then look for ways around the law to sanitize the process. Therein lies the problem,’ Havi outlined.

Havi further warned that the move will eventually kill devolution if it happened in Nairobi, as it can also happen in other counties hence his call by moving to court to have the whole process annulled.

Havi moved to court on Monday and obtained orders blocking the possible swearing-in of Ms Anne Kananu as Nairobi governor.

Havi argued that the hurried swearing-in of Kananu to the office was illegal and a brazen attempt to undermine the process of a by-election as required by the Constitution.

The office of Nairobi governor became vacant after Sonko was impeached last December.

Kananu on Monday morning took over as Nairobi acting Governor three days after she was sworn in as Deputy Governor.

Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura officially handed over the instruments of power to Kananu in a brief ceremony at City Hall, saying that since Nairobi now had a substantive Deputy Governor in office he had relinquished his acting Governor capacity and resumed his full duties as Assembly Speaker.

Havi’s case against City Hall will be heard on January 28, 2021.