Court postpones Ex-Nairobi City Clerk Gakuo’s appeal to allow family file proof of his death

Former Nairobi Town Clerk and County Environment Executive Officer John Gakuo who passed on on Tuesday serving a three-year prison term with three others for illegal procurement of cemetery land. [James Mwangi/Standard]

The hearing of an appeal filed by former Nairobi City Clerk John Gakuo challenging his three years jail term over Sh283 million cemetery saga failed to proceed after his lawyer informed the court of his death.

His lawyer Assa Nyakundi told the court that Gakuo died in Prison on Tuesday and that his family was waiting for a post-mortem examination to be conducted on Wednesday at 1 pm to ascertain the cause of his death.

Justice John Onyiego heard that there is likelihood of having a public inquest as to how the former clerk died and that his family will consult as to how they can clear his name even in his death.

“It is unfortunate that he died without knowing the verdict of his appeal. We do not have a formal certification of his death in which it affects the appeal. We will know whether it has abated,” said Nyakundi.

“We were keen to demonstrate that the decesead was the wrong man in jail.”

Gakuo was jailed alongside former Local Government Principal Secretary Sammy Kirui, Alexander Musee and Mary Ngethe after a court found that they were to blame for a fraudulent procurement of cemetary land for the defunct City Council of Nairobi.

They were convicted for their role in the multi-million shilling scandal that rocked City Hall between 2008 and 2009.

Kirui and Gakuo were sentenced to three years in jail and fined Sh1 million each for abuse of office and failure to comply with procurement rules in purchasing the land.

Ngethe, who at the time was the city council’s legal director and chairperson of the tender evaluation committee, was also sentenced to three years in jail and fined Sh52 million while the committee's secretary, Musee, got three years and a Sh32 million fine.

Anti-Corruption Court Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti ruled that whereas Mr Kirui and Mr Gakuo acted passively and allowed embezzlement of public funds to take place under their watch, Ms Ngethe and Mr Musee served as corruption conduits in the deal.

“I find that the prosecution has proved the case beyond any reasonable doubt. It is the accused persons who know why they acted the way they did, leading to loss of public funds. I find them guilty of each of the offences they are charged with and convict them accordingly,” ruled Mr Ogot

 Yesterday, it emerged that Prisons had filed before the court and also served Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji with information that the former city clerk had died while being held in Nairobi West Prisons.

But the DPP told the court that the document presented to him did not have a stamp from Prisons authorities.

The court heard that his family has to now formally file an application and attach proof by way of a post mortem report that he was dead.

“It may not serve as enough proof of his death. The signal from prisons in charge is not stamped. It is not proof enough of his death. We need confirmation of his death,’’ the DPP argued.

It also emerged that Gakuo, Kirui, Musee and Ngethe are to make an application for the anti-corruption court to allow them file new evidence showing that the star witness who led to their conviction had allegedly recanted his evidence before the magistrates court.