Senators have retreated to a closed briefing session ahead of commencement of hearing on Governor Mike Sonko’s impeachment.
Speaker Kenneth Lusaka ordered the preparatory session before the open session resumes at 11am to hear charges against the embattled county boss.
“We will hold a closed preparatory or briefing session to discuss the management of the investigation that will be held in plenary in the next two sitting days,” Lusaka said in his communication to the house.
The briefing session, he said, was aimed at ensuring that the investigation process is conducted seamlessly.
He ordered all members of the public including media to withdraw from the public gallery.
At 11 am, the open session resumes with the first agenda being the reading of the charges levelled against the governor by the city MCAs who voted to impeach him two weeks ago.
The ward representatives have accused Sonko of gross violation of the Constitution, abuse of office, gross misconduct and crimes under national law.
The governor and his accusers will be accorded minutes for their opening remarks before county assembly, thorough their lawyers, take the stand to argue their case.
The MCAs accuse Sonko of presiding over ‘massive loss and theft’ of public funds amounting to Sh204.2 billion, bloating the county’s debt and crippling the operations of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
“The governor’s continued willful refusal to execute the statutory warrants essential to the release of funds from the CRF, which has grounded the provision of services of not only the county executive but of the NMS and its exercise of the transferred functions,” the charges read.
He is also accused of persistently harassing, intimidating and molesting county officers and using City Hall cash to fly his daughter to the County First Lady’s Conference in New York, USA.