NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 17- Kenya’s Senate on Thursday upheld the impeachment of Mike Mbuvi Sonko as Nairobi Governor.
Sonko who likes gold chains was kicked out of office on four charges which included gross violation of the Constitution and other laws, abuse of office, commission of crimes under the national laws and lacking the mental capability to run the county government.
The speaker of the senate Kenneth Lusaka announced the governor had been impeached after almost ten hours of debate.
“The effect of the vote is that pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution Section 33 of the County Government Act and Standing Order No. 75 of the Senate Standing Orders, Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko of Nairobi City County stands impeached,” Lusaka announced after voting was concluded on Thursday night.
On all the four charges, 27 Senators voted YES, 16 voted NO while two abstained.
The proceedings against Sonko were heard by the Senate plenary for two days where he pleaded not guilty to the allegations.
Sonko had defended himself claiming that the county assembly was on a character assassination overdrive and attempts to remove him from office were politically choreographed.
He denied diverting the money to pay for lawyers and garbage collection services as alleged, instead claiming that the amount in question was in fact never used.
The governor was also at pains to explain why his daughter flew first class to New York to attend a First Ladies conference under the guise of being a sub-county official.
The assembly said the governor’s daughter hired a chopper to overfly New York city at Sh220,000 and threw a private party at a cost of Sh260,000.
Sonko admitted his daughter had been part of the delegation but said she had travelled as a woman and that the costs were catered for by the national government.
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