Court Temporarily Stops Planned Sonko’s Impeachment

Debate of an impeachment motion against Nairobi governor Mike Sonko planned for Thursday appears to have encountered turbulence after the Employment and Labor Court barred the Nairobi county assembly from discussing the motion pending an inter-parties hearing.

Justice Nzioka Makau certified the matter as urgent setting the hearing of the motion for Thursday, the same day the motion seeking Sonko’s ouster was to be tabled at the assembly.

Sonko had moved to court under a certificate of urgency seeking to stop debate or intervention of the assembly on a matter his legal team termed as sub judice. The defense team cited an order by Justice Byram Ogaya issued on 28^th of February this year stopping the impeachment of the governor arguing that the injunctive conservatory orders are still in place to date.

The embattled governor was momentarily arrested on Monday before his eventual release in a turn of events his handlers claimed was part of a wider scheme to intimidate him and his supporters.

Minority Leader Michael Ogada had last Thursday tabled a notice of impeachment motion at the Nairobi County Assembly complete with signatures of 86 MCAs who had endorsed the plan out of the 122 MCAs at the assembly. 82 MCAs would however deny appending their signatures claiming that the exercise was a forgery.

The MCAs had listed four key grounds for the removal of the governor: a gross violation of the law; committing a crime under the national and international laws; and lacking the capability to run the county.

Sonko’s woes started when Ward Representatives began collecting signatures to impeach him over his failure to approve the Ksh 37.5 billion annual budget that allocated Ksh 27.1 billion to Nairobi Metropolitan Services, leaving City Hall with Ksh 8.4 billion.

The latest attempt to impeach Sonko came just months after the embattled governor turned to the courts earlier this year to stop an attempt by a section of MCAs to topple him.

Led by Makongeni MCA Peter Imwatok, the MCAs had sought the ouster of Sonko on 16 grounds that included abuse of office.