Eva Nyambura
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Appellate and High Court decision on former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko’s impeachment.
The court upheld the senate’s decision to impeach the former county boss.
The seven-judge bench said Sonko’s appeal was thrown out due to lack of jurisdiction.
“The Court lacked jurisdiction to determine the appeal. However, in view of the public interest nature of the dispute, the need for due guidance to the judicial process and to the courts below and for the sake of posterity and development of jurisprudence the Court (the majority) has decided to settle all the pertinent questions the appeal raises, instead of downing tools on account of want of jurisdiction,” said the bench led by Chief Justice Martha Koome.
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“There were four counts of impeachable charges against the appellant. The County Assembly, the Senate and the two superior courts below were convinced that the charges were proved to the standard required in such circumstances. No error for their analysis and conclusion has been presented.”
In light of the judgement, the former Makadara MP will not be on the ballot come August 9.
He was cleared to vie for the Mombasa governorship on Thursday after a high court ordered the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to accept his nomination papers.
Now, Sonko can no longer vie for elective office based on provisions of Article 75(3) of the Constitution. The provision bars a person impeached from a public office from ever holding any other state office.
Read Also: Sonko, Thang’wa Remain Barred From Running for Office After Court Ruling
Additionally, the apex court denied his assertions that there was insufficient public involvement in the impeachment procedure.
“There was sufficient public participation, the intended tabling of the motion for the impeachment of the appellant was not only advertised in a local daily newspaper with wide circulation, in response to which people submitted memoranda, but also a survey was conducted in the county in the form of questionnaires. This was in addition to the fact that the proceedings were conducted in public,” said the judges.
The judges also determined that by removing the governor from office, the people exercised their authority through their democratically elected representatives to protect and defend Chapter Six of the Constitution.
Sonko was impeached by 88 members of the Nairobi county assembly on December 3, 2020.
The assembly’s decision was upheld by the senate on December 17 the same year.
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