Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has declared interest to recapture the City Hall in next year’s General Election.
In an interview with KTN News on Friday, December 24, the flamboyant politician stated that he still got the urge and will to serve city residents as their chief executive.
“Will you be in the Nairobi gubernatorial race next year”?” asked Ahmed Bajaji. In his response, Sonko said: “Lazima niwe ndani (I must be on the ballot).”
Sonko neither revealed which political vehicle he will be using nor did he reveal who he will back to succeed retiring President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Sonko was impeached after just three years at the helm of City Hall in what a section of lawyers argued that the embattled politician risk being barred from seeking any elective office including that of an MCA.
“People take some of these constitutional processes for granted. Impeachment is very punitive. Sonko stands disqualified from any election,” High Court advocate William Okech told the Star.
But Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi argued that impeachment only cannot bar Sonko from seeking to be re-elected as the Governor.
Havi who has expressed his interest in the city politics on a UDA ticket, however, said it is only courts that can bar Sonko from running for any elective seat in the 2022 General Election.
He said the Constitution permits Sonko who was accused of corruption and abuse of office, to run for elective positions provided the appeal mechanisms available to him have not been exhausted.
“Locking out Sonko sets the stage for abuse of State organs mandated to instill good governance to preclude individuals who pose a serious challenge to powerful people in government,” Havi told The Standard.
Some of the political heavyweights already jostling to take over the management of City Hall include former Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru, Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi, former Starehe MP Margaret Wanjiku, businesswoman Agnes Gakure and recently sworn in Governor Anne Kananu.
