Friends betrayed me, ex-Nairobi Governor Sonko says on sour relationship with NMS

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko during an interview with The Standard. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko now claims he was fixed in the February 2020 deed of transfer of functions between the Nairobi County Government and the National Government.

In a candid conversation on KTN News on Tuesday evening, Sonko claimed that people close to him engineered his downfall.

“I was fixed by people pretending to be my friends. When I was signing the transfer of functions to the National Government, I was misled…not by the President, but by his people,” Sonko alleged.

Sonko further revealed intimate details of what transpired before and during the transfer of key functions to the State, saying he was asked by his ‘confidants’ not to sign documents approving the disbursement of funds to victims of demolitions within Nairobi.

“These are the people who came and incited me telling me the President trusts me. They said, leave these documents. Don’t sign [to have] this money [transferred],” he continued.

But he would later learn that the same people set him up against the President.

“The same people went to State House and told the President, 'this guy [Sonko] has refused to sign the documents. Let’s get rid of him'."

But close to a year after his impeachment as Nairobi Governor, Sonko says he has no regrets on his style of politics or what transpired, and that he respects the President.

“I have no regrets. I came from nowhere and made it in politics,” he told KTN News last night.

Sonko signed a deal with the National Government in February last year that saw four key departments; Health and Transport, Public Works, Utilities and Ancillary services, and County Government Planning and Development taken over.

This would later pave way for his impeachment.

What next?

The former governor, who has now gone on a rampage exposing alleged corrupt deals and State officers within levels of government, says he does not intend to revisit politics, and will only focus on his newly-acquired amusement, #SonkoLeaks.

“At the moment I want to focus on my case and bringing justice to Kenyans. This country is bigger than all of us. We have to fix it, even the Judiciary,” he said.

Asked whether he is afraid the exposes will, in any way implicate him, the former county chief said he has nothing to lose, and “has no business extorting Kenyans.”