The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that impeached persons cannot vie for any political seat.
In a joint verdict, the seven-judge bench ruled that the impeachment proceedings against Sonko before the County Assembly and the Senate were properly conducted in accordance with Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Orders of the Assembly and the Senate.
“From the record and submissions before this Court, we come to the irresistible conclusion that the impeachment of the appellant was in compliance with the Constitution and the law. We, therefore, find no merit in the Petition of Appeal,” ruled the Apex Court.
The Supreme Court verdict technically locks out Sonko from vying for the Mombasa Gubernatorial seat and any other elective seat in future.
Persons impeached from office are deemed to have contravened Article 75(3) of the Constitution which stipulates that “A person who is removed from office on contravention of Chapter 6 of the Constitution is disqualified from holding any other State or public office whether elective or appointive.”
But just how did Mike Sonko fall?
The official view of things is that Mike Sonko stepped on the toes of big boys and tried by refusing to ‘eat’ with those that matter.
They then hatched a plot to deal with him and sure, he was caught guilty in a Sh350 million garbage collection payment scandal.
This was blamed on him and perhaps he was told to sign away certain important functions of the Nairobi Government to save himself. He did.
But his constant wrangles with Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), where he several times, failed to sign the budget to be used by the entity, would end up in his impeachment.
Mike Sonko was done.
Below is a pedestrian outlook of how Mike Sonko lost grip on Nairobi.
Mike Sonko’s fall as told through the road he named after himself
With Kenya’s changing nature of the application of law, wIll Mike Sonko ever come back?
