•Sonko said during his tenure he also did commendable work.
•On December 3, 2020, he was impeached by 88 Nairobi MCAs.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has revealed that he dropped his bid to vie for the capital’s governor seat out of respect for Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka.
He said that he had an interest in vying for the seat, but he dropped his ambitions after Kalonzo advised him to settle on Mombasa.
"All these decisions were made by my party leader. He told me there are a lot of interests in the Nairobi governor seat,” Sonko said.
He spoke on Sunday night during an interview with KTN News.
Last week, Kalonzo handed over the Wiper ticket for the Mombasa governor seat to Mike Sonko.
Kalonzo said the move was after a consensus between Sonko and Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo.
Sonko further said he had even planned to vie as an independent candidate in a bid to return to City Hall but Kalonzo advised otherwise.
The flamboyant city politician admitted that he betrayed the people of Nairobi by declaring his interest in the Mombasa governor seat.
“I really feel I betrayed the great people of Nairobi by going to vie in Mombasa. The Nairobi people have never betrayed me since I ventured into politics,” Sonko added.
Sonko further claimed that he consulted with the Azimio coalition principals President Uhuru Kenyatta and former prime minister Raila Odinga before he chose to vie for the seat.
The governor hopeful said he had mended fences with the Head of State, emphasizing that at the moment, they are in a ‘good’ working relationship with Uhuru.
"There are no permanent enemies in politics. Yes, I had wronged the president at one point and I abused him. But we are no longer enemies. I even met the president the other day and we had lunch in Dagoretti,” Sonko added.
He noted that he fell out with the State officials after he poked holes into the inhumane and unauthorised demolitions in Nairobi slums.
“I had no issue with Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) but I had an issue with the State on demolitions. I can never allow innocent people to be oppressed and that was when the deed of transfer happened,” he said.
When asked whether or not he betrayed Nairobi residents when signing the deed of transfer agreement, Sonko said he needed help at that moment in terms of garbage, poor roads and other issues affecting Nairobi residents.
In his opinion, NMS has done commendable work in Nairobi for the past 24 months, but the former governor maintained that during his tenure he also did commendable work.
He highlighted the Pumwani milk bank, adding fire stations and free milk to schools as his notable achievements.
On his impeachment, Sonko firmly believes he was illegally impeached and that he is sure both the county assembly and senate lacked quorum during that time.
On December 3, 2020, he was impeached by 88 Nairobi MCAs of the County Assembly which later proceeded to the Senate on December 17, 2020, where they upheld the resolution to remove him from office.
Last month, Sonko went to the Supreme Court to challenge his ouster. This was after the Court of Appeal upheld a decision by the High court that he was legally impeached in 2020.
The court also found that Senate gave Sonko an ear before concluding that he ought to leave the county's helm.
But Sonko maintained that he was yet to exhaust all avenues of appeal and will be moving to the Supreme Court.