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Senator Mike Sonko’s alleged dossier on corruption at the City Hall has ruffled feathers in the County Assembly.
Sonko made the allegations when he presided over the re-opening the assembly on February 10. Governor Evans Kidero reportedly ‘snubbed’ the ceremony fearing a walkout by MCAs who have accused the executive of abetting corruption.
The exposé made reference to controversial tendering, payments and allocation of county properties as part of the rot bedeviling the Assembly. Members are however divided on the dossier, with many taking sides.
Ngara MCA Mwaura Chege tabled a motion to discuss Sonko’s speech saying, “Some individuals and companies were mentioned in connection with the loss of money in the county. We cannot leave the speech at that. We need to dig deeper and find out more.”
The dossier was however defeated on grounds that the standing orders only allow debate on the governor’s speech.
“He has made it known that he is interested in the governor’s seat. It’s interesting that some MCAs are now using his claims to threaten the executive. We can’t buy this?” a Jubilee MCA told The Nairobian.
Hours before the senator addressed the Assembly, it is alleged the Clerk wrote to Speaker Alex ole Magelo indicating that one of the House leaders had issues with Sonko addressing the MCAs and wanted the senator to be advised to postpone his address.
The senator claimed a Jubilee MP and a senior official at the county government attempted to stop him from tabling the dossier.
“There was a fundraiser at a certain bar, and they bribed some people to preach that I was mad and had been admitted at Mathari Hospital. They wanted to find a reason to claim I was not in the right state of mind to table these documents,” claimed Sonko on the floor of the Assembly.
Sonko played an audio recording in which an unnamed county executive was heard informing him that he was being issued with a Sh 400,000 cheque weekly for the last four months to allegedly make him look the other way during underhand deals. The man in the tape denied taking the money.
- James Mwangi
