- Flamboyant Sonko's high-flying career has crash-landed and appears all but over. Still, Sonko is filled with surprises. Could he rise from the ashes?
- The man who loves the limelight was embarrassingly pushed to the periphery, as core city functions were handed the to the state. He fought back and failed.
Where's Mike's mojo now?
After his impeachment by the Senate on December 17 for abuse of office, Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko's political future is in doubt. He could be barred from holding public office.
But Maverick Mike's a fighter, tough, rich and resourceful, and is unlikely to be out of the limelight for long, in one role or another. He will appeal and could try to run again for governor as an independent in the February 18 by-election.
Unbowed, he put on a Santa suit after the impeachment and started visiting hospitals and giving to the needy throughout the capital. Giving to the needy has always been his strong suit.
"They may have taken away my office, but not my people," Sonko said.
It's not yet time to write his political obituary, but looking back, who thought it would come to this for the champion of the poor, the king of bling renowned for his high-profile good deeds and outrageous antics?
Remember this? At the height of the ICC case against President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2014, one man stood out on the streets of The Hague.
New Nairobi Senator Sonko on October 8 led tens of Uhuru enthusiasts to the Netherlands to show solidarity with the President.
While the President's lawyers were battling inside the international corridors of justice to free the President from the 'jaws' of perceived injustice, Sonko staged massive theatrics outside.
Clad in T-shirts emblazoned with words mocking the the ICC, Sonko caused a stir. He led demonstrators denouncing the ICC charges of facilitating crimes against humanity in the post-election violence.
While Sonko's insults did not influence the outcome - the case was thrown out for lack of evidence - his message was clear: Uhuru was his personal friend.
He once declared he was "the country's second in command in Uhuru's absence".
After he was elected governor in landslide, Sonko promised to fix the capital city, it was a mess.
But the city he ran was wallowing in garbage, choking on exhaust fumes from legendary traffic jams, barely able to navigate many roads filled with potholes and flooded because drainage was clogged.
Enough, the President said. Facing an earlier impeachment in February, Sonko was forced to cede four key functions to the state. He became governor without portfolio or much of a budget.
Now Sonko disdainfully calls the President "Nairobi's Super Governor" and likens Maj Gen (Rtd) Mohammed Badi, head of Nairobi Metropolitan Services, to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Saddam was hanged.
NMS effectively runs the city - housing, health, transport, public works, urban planning and development.
Badi began massive improvements and a clean-up and has won wide praise.
Still, Sonko had endeared himself to many Nairobi residents through dramatic scenes including phoning Uhuru on a loudspeaker as he defended victims of land grabbing. He'd always given out lots of cash.
Once he led journalists on a photo-op expose to a hospital to find dead babies stored in cardboard boxes.
Shortly after taking office in 2017, he stormed the City Hall cash office and found Sh7 million. He always called himself a graft fighter and said he would wipe out cartels.
Then he blamed them and 'State House cartels' for his troubles.
Sonko had built a strong support base among the downtrodden in slums as he fashioned himself as the champion for the poor while senator from 2013 to 2017. The Sonko Rescue Team provided ambulances, hearses and limousines for weddings. He paid hospital bills of needy detained patients.
Sonko's wave in the city initially rattled the powerful elite, resulting in a chess game that nearly crushed his hopes for a Jubilee gubernatorial ticket in 2017.
Powerful men close to the President who were not happy with Sonko's theatrics fronted former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth for the Jubilee ticket.
Sonko won by a mile, garnering 138,185 votes to Kenneth's 62,504 votes.
With his massive support and formidable following by youths who wanted to get rich like Mike - 'Sonko'means rich - the governor's fall was least expected.
Despite his arrest on corruption charges in December 2019, he seemed to be riding high: brash, streetwise, filled with bravado, bejewelled with bling and beloved for his handouts.
However, on December 17 in the Senate, Sonko fell after what analysts attributed to a conniving wider political establishment that was fed up with him.
After MCAs impeached him, the Senate voted 27-16 to send Sonko home, ending, it would seem, his political career.
Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja and his Makueni counterpart Mutula Kilonzo Jnr abstained from the vote that lifted the lid on the strong handshake politics playing out in the Senate.
Now seen as an ally of Deputy President William Ruto, who is alienated from the President, Sonko was backed by senators mainly allied to the DP. The majority supported impeachment 'in the spirit of the handshake'.
During the MCAs' impeachment on December 3, they cited gross misconduct and abuse of office. They saidSonko was incompetent and unfit to run the city and was often absent at one of his homes.
However, at the heart of troubles was the power struggle with NMS brought in by his ex-friend Uhuru rescue the city from mismanagement.
“Jail me! There’s life in prison. Impeach me! There’s life after politics. Kill me! There’s life after death,” Sonko posted online on November 14 protesting against pressure to approve the NMS budget. He refused to sign.
Many argue his predicament is the result of a well-choreographed scheme by his rivals to block his march for a second term.
“Sonko has the masses with him, the governor is a great political mobiliser with unmatched credentials but his greatest undoing is his style of leadership,” political analysts Dismas Mokua said.
Even the masses, however, were not happy with the state of the capital.
The former senator's rise to power had been a phenomenon: He took the city by storm.
Former Kasarani MP John Njoroge says the governor's formidable mobilisation skills cannot be gainsaid.
“The governor was very key in the Jubilee victory across Nairobi but there has been a scheme to finish him politically,” Njoroge told the Star.
Overcoming a powerful and well-oiled campaign by his predecessor Evans Kidero, Sonko garnered 871,794 votes, perhaps the only county boss who got more Nairobi votes than the President in 2017.
Uhuru won only 91,291 votes in Nairobi.
The Sonko-Polycarp Igathe ticket swept polling booths like wild fire. People thought he finally, just maybe might make the city work.
But he couldn't and blamed cartels.
MCAs wanted to impeach him. In February at State House, however, Sonko reluctantly ceded all significant power to the state, the NMS government appendage that Sonko considers an illegal ball and chain. Impeachment paused.
But again MCAs they wanted to impeach him, this time over his refusal to sign the Sh37.5 billion 2020-21 budget allocating NMS Sh27.1 billion, his administration would get only Sh6.4 billion.
Sonko decided to take the bull by the horns.
He picked a fight with Badi whom he accused of presiding over his political obliteration. He said the NMS boss should be prosecuted for evicting poor residents during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I am writing to the ICC prosecutor to demand investigations into forced and arbitrary displacement of Nairobi residents by our own Kenyan soldier, amounting to crimes against humanity and persecution,” Sonko tweeted.
He alleged individuals working with State House were plotting to reduce his influence by slashing his budget in favour of the NMS. He said they were violating the sacred separation of powers.
“After being conned out of the money of the untransferred functions, I have done thorough research on the law. Let us meet in the courts,” Sonko tweeted.
The governor's future as the capital city' boss was hanging by a thread - and then it was cut.
Sonko had scuffled with police officers on October 30 when they stormed his meeting with MCAs opposed to impeachment.
Officers briefly arrested him and claimed his meeting was crowded and violated Covid-19 health protocols.
After an earlier arrest a year ago on December 6, 2019, he was arraigned on corruption charges involving improperly awarded tenders for garbage collection. He has denied wrongdoing
Supporters thronged the courtroom.
But it was all downhill and Sonko was sent packing. The nation is keenly watching his next moves.
Before his win in the Makadara by-election of 2010, Gideon Mbuvi Kioko was a young, little-known and rich businessman.
When Reuben Ndolo successfully challenged Dick Wathika’s election to Parliament, Sonko threw his hat into the ring.
He had only been known for his business in Nairobi's public transport system, but he appealed to the city's poor.
With his deep pockets and a heart for the downtrodden, he captured their imagination and earned the nickname 'Sonko'.
On the night of September 20, 2010, Sonko defeated his rivals, winning with more than 19,000 votes, followed by Ndolo who garnered just over 17,000.
His meteoric rise had just started. A decade later, it seemed all but over.