Nairobi County Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has told court that he did not in any way go against his bail terms when he appointed a deputy governor.
The Governor argued that his decision amounts in any way to interfering with the crime scene as he did not nominate his deputy from his City Hall office or at a scene designated.
While urging the court to dismiss the DPP’s application to cancel his bail, Sonko through his lawyer Cecil Miller said that he has obeyed and adhered to the bail terms set by the court and will do so until the determination of the case.
Appearing before justice Mumbi Ngugi, Miller submitted that bail conditions did not at amount to removing his client or suspending him from performing his constitutional functions in the office of the Governor of Nairobi.
“It would be unreasonable for the DPP to purport that the condition that barred him from office is equivalent to his suspension, removal from office or to mean that the court barred him from completely exercising the constitutional and statutory functions of his office,” argues the Governor.
According to him, his actions of nominating the deputy governor did not at all interfere with the evidence or any prospective witnesses.
Governor Sonko said his decision to appoint the deputy governor does not in anyway undermine the intended prosecution against him.
He added that the bail terms conditions issued against him by the trial court was to ensure that his relationship and any potential witnesses do not undermine the interests of justice and nothing has been alleged in the application that the trial court has been undermined or his threatened to be undermined whatsoever.
It was his submission that he wrote to the speaker of Nairobi City County Assembly in exercise of his constitutional duties on 6th January 2020 nominating a deputy governor and directing that the vetting process of nominee be undertaken pursuant to the provisions 9f section 8(1)(a) of the county Government Act 2013.
