It is said that when it rains, it pours.
This truism has come to hit Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko hard as, barely hours after he was questioned at the anti-corruption commission offices over alleged impropriety in issuance of garbage-collection tenders, he was on Thursday hauled back into the interrogation room where he spent hours being grilled by the Kenya Revenue Authority over tax evasion claims.
So damaging are the allegations that the governor has set in motion the process of naming a deputy should he be required to step aside as the boss at City Hall.
Mr Sonko intimated that plans are already underway to name a person who will act in his position in case he is found guilty.
He said the deputy will act in his absence in case he steps aside to allow for investigations.
“We currently have a crisis, but we are making plans to come up with a name, which we will then forward to the assembly for approval,” he said.
SHADY TENDERS
While his aura has been kingly, his appearance on Thursday and the day before was that of a worried leader and a man whose options were thinning by the hour.
He has in the past shown all and sundry that he is wealthy, influential and has the President on speed dial. But his admission that he is ready to step aside if he will be found culpable portray a man coming to terms with his inner self.
The governor emerged from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) offices in Upper Hill, Nairobi, some minutes past 4pm after hours of questioning saying he is ready to carry his own cross and resign to allow for investigations.
“We must sustain the fight against graft. And we cannot purport to do so while remaining in office after being accused. So that is a cross I will carry on my own in support of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s fight against graft,” said Mr Sonko.
On Tuesday, Mr Sonko was summoned over suspect payments to 13 firms contracted to collect and dispose of garbage on behalf of the county government.
ACCOUNTABILITY
He has vowed not to bear responsibility for other members of his administration who will be implicated in misappropriation of funds at the county and will only answer to personal culpability.
“If I am found not guilty I will come back to the office, but if it is found that I am guilty then I will carry my own cross,” he said.
Mr Sonko said he had left the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to continue with investigations and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to receive the file and pass a verdict.
The City Hall boss was nonetheless optimistic that the current investigations will not necessitate his resignation, saying “all these are just allegations and you know me, I cannot touch a coin belonging to the public”.
The governor is under investigation over allegations that his administration failed to remit tax deductions to the State, including those arising from payments made to suppliers and contractors including Value Added Tax (VAT) and income tax on profits.
ACCRUED DEBT
Sonko claimed that the Sh4.5 billion non-remitted taxes accrued before he came into office and it is a problem he “inherited from the former regime”.
The debt accrued between 2014 and 2017 before he became Nairobi’s second governor, he claimed.
Since coming to power in August 2017, he said, the county government has remitted more than Sh5 billion in taxes to the KRA.
“Yes, we have their debt but currently we don’t have a problem as we paid our salaries by August 25 and even remitted pay as you earn (PAYE), and what remains is withholding tax of Sh50 million for August; but we are ready to pay,” he said.
This comes after he had also been queried on the statutory deductions from county employees and suppliers as withholding tax, which were never sent to KRA.
PERSONAL ACCOUNT
Mr Sonko said that he will undertake a reconciliation of the debts each party owes today.
“They have our money as much as we have theirs. Taxes must be paid but they should also know that what they owe us is also money and not just a piece of paper,” he said.
Meanwhile, the county chief rebuffed allegations that he pocketed up to Sh20 million wired into his account by some firms that got a lucrative garbage collection contract.
“I saw a newspaper story claiming that my friend Jamal is a director of a company called Hero. We have done a search and he has never been a director at the company and he has never worked at the county government,” he said.
“The Sh20 million was money transferred to my account on April 7, 2017 before I became the governor as I was engaged in other businesses,” Sonko added.