• The senators retreated to 20 minutes closed session after the County Assembly lawyers opposed some of the witnesses tabled by Sonko's defense.
• The ward reps said Sonko is rogue, extravagant and a plunderer of public resources and should go home.
Image: EZEKIEL AMINGA
The Senate has allowed Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko to call four witnesses after having rejected his list of seven earlier.
The governor had lined up seven witnesses including himself and three MCAs to testify in the impeachment case.
The session resumed Thursday morning with Sonko, through his lawyers taking the stand to discount allegations levelled against him.
The senators have retreated to 20 minutes closed session after the County Assembly lawyers opposed some of the witnesses tabled by Sonko's defence.
The Governor has been allocated four hours to argue out his defence.
But on resumption, Speaker Ken Lusaka ruled that only Sonko will testify in the case. Lusaka said there were witness statements filed by the defence but allowed the parties to speak on the matter.
"Having listened to all the parties and looking at all the papers before us and exercising my discretion, I will allow four witnesses and the Governor to testify," Lusaka said.
County assembly through their lead lawyer Ndegwa Njiru had opposed the admission of all the 7 witnesses lined up by the defence on grounds they had been served with their statements
The lawyers argued the alleged witnesses statements cited by Sonko's defence team were filed in court to stop the impeachment of the governor and were not meant for senate proceedings.
His sentiments were echoed by Siaya Senator James Orengo who said the witnesses statement ought to have reached the senate before the trial began.
"You cannot introduce a case within a case. You cannot ambush the other party," he said.
But Sonko's lead lawyer Kinyanjui said he presented the list of witnesses and their statements.
On Wednesday, MCAs laid bare their case against the embattled county chief.
The ward reps said Sonko is rogue, extravagant and a plunderer of public resources and should go home.
Through their lead lawyer Ndgewa Njiru, the ward reps claimed that Sonko has failed the leadership and integrity tests and brought disrepute to the office of governor.
“He has not only violated Article 6 of the Constitution and acted in a manner that is sumptuous to the people of Kenya,” Njiru said.
The lawyer said the county boss has practised extravagance by using public money to fly his daughter to the US.
“We have presented overwhelming evidence on how the governor has plundered the resources of this country. Resources of Wanjiru. Resources of hustler nation,” he reckoned.
“In France, a revolution was triggered by the extravagance of the king. If it happened in 16th century, why should it nor now?”
But Sonko discredited the charges terming them flimsy, inaccurate and witch-hunt thus dead on arrival.
Through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, Sonko pleaded with the senators to throw away the case, adding that it does meet the threshold of removing him from office.
He said the charges are allegations are anchored on witch-hunt and malice and should therefore be thrown out.
While making opening remarks, Kinyanjui submitted that Sonko has been furnished with evidence supporting charges against him while other allegations touch on cases pending in court.
“If a man should be denied audience when they are faced with accusations and then sentence passed against them, isn’t that violation of the Constitution?” Kinyanjui posed.