It has not been a smooth ride in life for Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko who is now facing corruption charges in court.
Sonko has had to fight his way up literary in order to become the seasoned politician he is today.
SONKO’S RISE
His tenure as Nairobi’s second governor has been a tempestuous one, faced with the arduous task of picking up from where his predecessor left and fulfill the evasive dream of restoring glory Kenya’s capital.
Soon after ascending to power as Nairobi’s governor in 2017 and for the better part of 2018, Sonko expressed fears for his life claiming that some individuals wanted to finish him off.
His paranoia was so bad to an extent of vacating his officers at City Hall and rented Lilian Towers in Nairobi where he operated from, parting with Sh1.8 million in just four months.
He would also shift his office to his Mua Home in Machakos County in 2018.
He also at one time had a total of 26 bodyguards keeping vigil on him after adding his own private guards to the government’s four armed police officers.
Not to mention the numerous sacking and reshuffling of his county executive officers whom he suspected of colluding with his rivals.
SONKO’S FALL
But in 2019 is undoubtedly the year that he has seen the mother of all challenges in his political career, culminating into his dramatic arrest following an arrest warrant issued against him by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Hajji on Friday 6, December, 2019.
Sonko who is now facing graft charges alongside six others, spent the weekend in police custody and two more nights in remand at Kamiti Maximum Prison before being granted bond on Wednesday afternoon.
All the while, Sonko has accused the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) of witch hunt, maintaining that he is clean and casting blame to cartels that want him out as being behind all his political woes.
He even at one time cried publicly to the Head of State urging him to help him put a stop to cartels causing havoc in his county.
“Lakini rais ile cartel tunaojaribu kudismantle hii Nairobi itafika mahali Mweshimiwa rais uingilie (Mr President, the magnitude of the cartel we’re tryung to dismantle, it will reach a time when your intervention will be required. Ile cartel iko hii Nairobi ni kubwa zaidi, nahitaji msaada wako kudismantle. The cartel in Nairobi is so big I need your help to end it,” he pleaded.
SONKO’S FUTURE
The embattled governor’s political future now hangs precariously in the balance even after he was freed on Sh15 million cash bail, following the order by the Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti.
Sonko, who was released alongside the other six suspects, is also prohibited from accessing his office at City Hall.
Some political analysts have predicted that this heralds the downfall of the county boss, which according to them was long overdue.
However, being the shrewd politician that he is, it is still too early to write him off.
We can only wait with bated breaths to see how he manoeuvres this particular hurdle and if he manages to bounce back.
But whether or not he survives, the indisputable truth is that Sonko will go down in history as the most philanthropic and charismatic leader in Nairobi and Kenya at large.
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