MSAMBWENI MP Omar Zonga is the first legislator to publicly have his salary slashed to pay for the maintenance of a child.
An officer from the National Assembly delivered a Sh800,004 cheque at the Mombasa’s Tononoka children's court for the upkeep fee of a child he sired with a woman, Mwanafuraha Sauti.
Sauti had sued Zonga for child support claiming negligence. She claimed she had lived with the MP since 2003 and their child was born on September 1, 2005.
Sauti said she was jobless and could not meet the child's needs. The court ordered a third of the MP’s salary attached on February, 2011.
However, Zonga contested the order and requested that a DNA test be carried out. His lawyer, Ananiah Mwaboza, claimed that the Speaker and the Clerk of the National Assembly had not received the attachment order.
But the court server confirmed that the parliamentary service commission was also served with the copy of the order. The DNA results turned out positive.
A copy of the DNA results which had been conducted at the Unistel Medical Laboratories and signed by the company’s Managing Director, indicated that ‘The biological paternity of Omari Mbwana Zonga, is confirmed’.
Sauti, who was represented by Christian Legal Education, Aid and Research, was demanding Sh801,400. In the breakdown, she wanted Sh30,000 for food every month, Sh44,400 school fees, Sh56,000 for shoes, books and clothes, Sh3,200 for transport and Sh10,000 for medical care.
She told the court that since the defendant is employed as Msambweni Mp, he earns enough money to maintain their child. Magistrate Irene Ruguru ruled that both parties have equal parental responsibility and that Zonga should make adequate contributions towards the upkeep of the child. The cheque dated January 11 was to be paid to the judiciary in Mombasa under Cooperative Bank.