Mutura swearing-in as acting Nairobi governor postponed

Nairobi Speaker Benson Mutura. [Samson Wire,Standard]

The swearing-in of Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura as acting governor has been postponed to a date yet to be announced.

The Assumption committee on Friday said the judge arrived late for the function but the law requires the ceremony to be held between 10am and 2pm.

Speaker Mutura is set to be sworn in to take over the county leadership after Governor Mike Sonko was impeached.

The law states that the speaker’s role is limited to 60 days in preparation for a by-election in the event of a vacancy in the offices of governor and deputy.

On Friday, security was beefed up at City Hall with officers patrolling the environs in readiness for any arising skirmishes.

The Nairobi governor by-election will be held by February 15, 2021, which will be within 60 days of the Senate impeachment vote.

Sonko is the second governor to be a victim of Senate's axe following former Kiambu governor Ferdinand Waititu in January this year. 

As soon as the Nairobi governor was sent packing by the Senate his removal was gazetted.

Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka last night gazetted the impeachment in less than hour of the governor’s removal.

"On Thursday, December 17, 2020, the Senate resolved to remove Hon. Mike Mbuvi Sonko, the Governor of Nairobi City County, from office, by impeachment," read a gazette notice signed by the speaker.

Jubilee’s David Murathe in December last year, while talking about the county’s leadership, made reference to a proposal in the Building Bridges Initiative that seeks to abolish Nairobi County and replace it with a Metropolis City.

“The management of the city county is important. This is a conversation we must have now,” he said.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko at the Senate Assembly during his impeachment debate at Parliament Buildings on December 17, 2020. [Elvis Ogina,Standard]

Some of the accusations lodged against Sonko include using of funds meant for bursaries to pay lawyers. Even though Sonko contested the amount in question, he did not deny the charges.

Evidence present before senate showed that the governor paid a total of Sh163 million to two separate law firms.

The Senate last night overwhelmingly voted to impeach Sonko.

In a vote that followed two days of trial, Sonko’s goose was cooked from the time, in the late evening, Majority Leader Samuel Poghisio responded to the impeachment Motion and announced that the hour of reckoning had come.

Senator Fatuma Dullo led the House in voting Yes from the first to the fourth impeachment charge. The vote reflected the prevailing political division pitting Tangatanga — led by Deputy President William Ruto, and Kieleweke — led by President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

Earlier, put to his defence before a pensive Senate, Sonko turned blue, the weight of the charges lost to him, as he rolled it back on the Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) who impeached him a few weeks ago.

On the second and last day of his impeachment trial, Sonko took to the dock — first to adduce his own evidence before the council of the assembly descended on him, tearing apart his rebuttals and painting the picture of a duplicitous, abusive and reckless man at the helm of the country’s capital.

It was a day like no other, when a fidgety Sonko, after evading the MCAs, showed up for grilling. He began on a high in the morning, but as the day wore on, and as the intensity of questioning rose, his voice drowned. He grew impatient and responded wearily.

He denied the accusations. He accused the most, describing the MCAs as “crooks” and “thieves” who had swindled the county executive of bursary funds. He said the whole impeachment process was a mere charade, a vendetta after he stopped the MCAs on their tracks.