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| former Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal |
An anticorruption court is set to impose its sentence on former Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal at 3:30 pm Thursday.
This is after he was found guilty of corruptly enriching himself sh 83.3 million at the time he was in office
Lenolkulal in his mitigation maintained he is innocent and that the case against him was politically motivated.
He has asked anticorruption Magistrate Thomas Nzyoki to consider that he is the sole breadwinner in his family.
The former governor pleaded with the court to grant him a non-custodial sentence.
He believes that he will be exonerated, eventually.
His advocate Paul Nyamodi also pleaded for leniency saying “what happened was not a deliberate criminal enterprise but a grave error of judgment”.
He urged the court to consider the relevance of there being no loss occasioned after oil was supplied by the Oryx service station.
The other convicts told the court that the trial had financially drained them and if the court imposed any fine, it should allow them to pay it in installments.
Ndathi on the other hand said “May God help me through you. Let the Holy Spirit touch you to help me”.
The DPP led by Gitonga Riungu, Alex Akula, Wesley Nyamache and others asked the court to consider the gravity of the offence and further take into account the impact it had.
Corruption, he said, has to be made painful to deter other offenders.
“The accused persons were convicted of serious offences that strike at the very foundation of public trust and integrity that are deeply enshrined in the constitution,” he said.
Gitonga said this was breached when Lenolkulal took the oath at the time he was sworn in as governor.
“He swore to diligently serve the people of Samburu and Kenya but he didn’t remain true to his word,” Gitonga noted.
The DPP told the court that Lenolkulal failed to create an enabling environment of equity and patriotism when he opted to do business with the county.
He said the personal gain that Lenolkulal got means he breached the constitution and that should be taken into account.
He further asked the court to also consider the principle of accountability and transparency, especially after Samburu was flagged as one of the most marginalized in the county by the commission of revenue allocation.
“Lenolkulal over and above ought to have exercised prudent realization of public funds. But he mutilated those funds and gained interest,” he said.
The EACC at the same time asked the court to apply the law and disqualify Lenolkulal from being appointed into office for ten years following his conviction.
by SUSAN MUHINDI