The frantic young woman captured on video footage during Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko’s chaotic arrest in Voi was University of Nairobi (UoN) student leader Anne Mwangi Mvurya, The Nairobian can reveal.
According to police officers who were at the scene, the nervous student leader, who was clad in a hoodie and cap, kept shuffling nervously on the fringes as Sonko caused a scene, hurling expletives and wrestling with cops.
Sonko and Mvurya were briefly taken to Voi Railways Police Station before he was airlifted to Nairobi to face graft related charges.
“I don’t know her name, but she was shy and appeared pregnant,” said an officer.
Coast Regional Police Commander Rashid Yakub said his officers were not interested in the identity of the woman accompanying Sonko since passengers in the governor’s car had committed no offence warranting them to be subjected to police scrutiny.
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“Our brief was to effect an arrest against the governor, not other people accompanying him,” said Yakub.
During the short flight to Nairobi, a shaken Mvurya, the first female student to lead the powerful University of Nairobi Students Association (UNSA), is said to have kept her face covered. And as soon as the chopper landed, she melted out of the airport without attracting attention as a handcuffed Sonko was whisked into a waiting police car.
When contacted, Mvurya refused to be dragged into the matter, instead dwelling on Sonko’s arrest, which she described as ‘inhuman’.
“Police should be human whenever they arrest people. Governor or not, no one should be assaulted in the process of being arrested. The manner in which he was arrested was not the best. I don’t understand why he was assaulted while being arrested,” stated Mvurya.
Pressed on whether she was with the governor when he was arrested, the student leader said: “You’re digressing from what we are talking about. I was not the one driving his car. I decline to answer these questions.”
Moments later, a man called Jared who identified himself as her lawyer, warned one of these writers not to publish this story.
“I’m acting on the instructions of my client, Anne Mvurya. You can publish anything about her leadership, but do not publish anything to do with Mike Sonko. I am her lawyer and I also have dealings with the (Nairobi) County Government and if you publish this, we will pursue you personally,” he warned.
The young student leader rose to fame after beating male rivals on April 7 to become UNSA Chairperson, the first female student in the University’s history. But she quickly raised eyebrows when she was photographed paying the governor a courtesy call in his office.
Speculation at the time was that Sonko might have funded her campaign, but she quickly dismissed the rumours.
“Campaigns are a bit expensive because you have to campaign in all campuses. I used about Sh2 million. We did harambees at home and school and well-wishers, especially students, supported us,” she said.
But people close to Sonko say the two are romantically involved and they have bumped into her on several occasions at the governor’s private office in Upper Hill.
“It is obvious the two are an item. I have personally encountered them having a good time together a couple of times,” said an MCA.
When the BBI report was launched at Bomas of Kenya, Mvurya was one of the people selected to speak at the event attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
She attributes her passion for leadership to the fact that she always felt that women were not represented well and that female students needed a female leader who understood them better.
Mvurya is said to be from a fairly rich family. According to those close to her, she was living well before she started dating Sonko. She was driving a Toyota Mac X but is now cruising in a Toyota Prado TX.
Mvurya is known for not shying away from showing that she has money as she’s always been well off.
