Former Nairobi governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko was arraigned in a Nairobi court for mention over a graft case. – By Meshack Makau.
This comes a day after Sonko was detained at Gigiri Police Station by Kiambu Law Courts Chief Magistrate. The embattled governor had been charged with land graft dated 2019.
Governor Sonko had failed to appear for the mention on Monday 1,2021. Tension engulfed at the anti-corruption courts in Milimani after anti-terror police cruisers were spotted outside.
There were speculations that Sonko would be arrested soon after he left the court. Through his defense lawyers Khaminwa, Nyamu and Nyakundi asked the court to issue an order for him to be taken back to custody and bar any kind of arrest.
“Your honor the vehicles you are seeing here are police vehicle and it is important that you take judicial notice. You can confirm or send someone to confirm. We are apprehensive that it is an ambush. It will be unfortunate that a person that has been brought before you will be ambushed before your eyes. We request that you order that if anyone wants to have access to the governor should do so through the court,” expressed Mr. Nyakundi.
The lawyers also cited that there was an attempt to inject the governor with unknown substance at Gigiri police station yesterday night and requested the court to move him to Muthaiga police station. According to the defense team, they were denied access to their client and also told the court that the said client was forced to sleep on hard concrete.
“The entire police station was cleared off any person that had been arrested. The accused person found himself in solitary confinement where he was the only person in those cells. The motive was to inject him with what he didn’t know for he never asked for any doctor to attend to him,” said Mr. Nyamu.
Mr. Khaminwa claimed that governor Sonko had underlying condition and that he was denied access to his medication.
“Your honor my client suffers high blood pressure and at Gigiri police station he has been denied access to his medicine. My prayer is that you transfer him to Muthaiga where he can access his medicine. It’s clear my client is facing some psychological torture as a result of this,” added Khaminwa.
The prosecution maintained that it was not the duty of that court to issue such orders. The prosecution further requested the court to issue an order for governor Sonko to be taken back from where he had been picked.
“An application has been made by the defense touching on several aspects of the accused. Events were narrated on how the accused may feel that he is being fairly prosecuted which is not in line with article 50 of the constitution. The court was urged to uphold the bill of rights specifically that the accused should not be arrested in installments and more specifically when he leaves the court should be delivered to Kiambu court tomorrow at 2:30 PM as required by the Kiambu Chief Magistrate,” read part of the rulling.
“This court cannot contradict Kiambu court. Such applications should be made by the court. The investigating officer in this case should make sure that the accused is safely escorted back to Gigiri police station where he was removed. Once delivered to Gigiri police station the OCS should ensure the protection of the life of the accused. Since the I.O and the OCS are persons with authority will be reliable for the production of the accused before court and ensure he receives his drugs. The OCS should allow access for legal counsel to the accused upon request within the normal working hours,” ruled the Magistrate.
