Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has dismissed the allegations levelled against him by MCAs as political and ones driven by malice and character assassination.
While testifying in the impeachment case in the senate, Sonko denied diverting Sh297 million meant for bursaries for needy students in the county.
He tabled documents showing vouchers and bank accounts of the schools where the cash was channelled in the 2018-19 financial year.
“The Sh297 million for 2018-19 was availed for payment of bursaries,” Sonko said.
The MCAs accuse the county boss of diverting the money meant for payment of fees for poor students to pay lawyers.
However, Sonko dismissed the claim and instead accused the sponsor of the ouster motion of engaging in character assassination.
He accused some MCAs whom he claimed has been using their wives and relatives to divert the money to fake accounts.
Sonko cited a company named Kobudho which received more than Sh4.5 million meant for bursaries for the poor students.
“The mover of the motion was trying to divert the real issues. When he was talking about the cheques which I refuse to release, it is true. There are some MCAs who opened fake educational accounts on River Road,” he said.
Before Sonko took to the stand, four other witnesses, including an MCAs, testified in his favour and sought to discredit the procedure of the city boss’ impeachment.
Emmanuel Kenga, who identified himself as an ex-police commissioner and a document examiner, claimed that five out of the 88 signatures and names that allegedly signed Sonko’s removal were written by the same person.
“After examining the signatures, in my opinion, entries 3, 4, 9, 69, and 85 were written by the same author,” he said.
But the assembly lawyers questioned how he deduced the names and signatures were authored by the same person yet he did not have a specimen to compare them against.
The lawyers also poked holes in the character and reliability of the witness, citing a court case where applicants accused her of a number of allegations and demanded his interdiction.
Nominated MCA Silvia Museiya claimed that the impeachment process was procured through interests and coercion by the leadership of the county assembly.
Museiya is among the three ward reps who were recently punished by the jubilee party for defying party position.
She said the punishment, which includes suspension, was part of the intimidation and harassment of the members allied to the governor.
“I can confirm I did not vote. People around me did not vote and we had switched off our phones,” she said.
But the assembly lawyers asked why she wanted to vote yet he had been suspended by her party.
Witness Doughlas Ouma, a driver of governor Sonko’s lawyer – Evans Ondieki told the Senators that his boss was blocked from serving the Speaker of the assembly with court documents stopping the removal.