Sonko decamps to Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza
Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has left Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Coalition and joined Deputy President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza Alliance barely three months after joining Wiper Democratic Movement as a life member.
Sonko was received by DP Ruto While being welcomed by the United Democratic Alliance party leader, Ruto shaking hands with him posted,
“We welcome Mike Sonko to Kenya Kwanza, the winning team,” the DP said.
Sonko’s move come barely 24 hours after he accused Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua for the Supreme Court verdict that barred him from running for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat.
In just six months, Sonko has left Jubilee to Wiper and now to Kenya Kwanza. While leaving Jubilee back in March, Sonko thanked the party Jubilee for standing with him during his tenure as Nairobi governor.
“Please accept this letter as my formal notice of resignation as a member of Jubilee Party effective March 10, 2022. This is in the exercise of my rights to belong to a political party of my choice as enshrined under the Constitution of Kenya,” Sonko’s letter read in part.
Days after ditching Jubilee, Sonko was welcomed by the Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and even given the party ticket to run for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat, before Supreme Court dashed his hopes.
Mid this month, Sonko while in the company of President Uhuru Kenyatta, vouched for Raila Odinga while faulting Ruto for blaming the Head of State for the failing economy.
During his tenure, Sonko once blamed President Kenyatta for plotting to wreck his office before he eventually relinquished Nairobi City County’s duties to the state. Sonko would later claim that he made the decision while under influence of alcohol offered to him at State House.
“I was not sober. Hawa watu wa State House waliconfuse na pombe kwanza (The people at State House confused me with alcohol first) by the time I was meeting the President for the signing I was just seeing zigzag.”
Sonko ultimately fell from grace late year after he impeached by city MCAs for abuse of office. He was also accused of persistently intimidating, harassing and molesting senior staff, including blackmailing his county executive committee members and chief officers with one-year contracts, whose renewal he had undertaken arbitrarily.
Now another chapter of Sonko’s political career has been written with the Supreme Court verdict to bar him from running for office in Mombasa, but expect the man to bounce back.