Sonko told to eat his words or face lawsuit in Sh357m loss
The war of words between former Nairobi County Education executive Janet Ouko and Governor Mike Sonko after their acrimonious fallout early this month may be headed to court.
This comes after Ms Ouko gave Sonko seven days to apologise over an alleged defamatory statement the governor made against her, failure to which she resorts to legal redress.
The governor had linked Ms Ouko to Sh375 million loss in the bursary fund.
Through her lawyer Dan Ameyo, Ms Ouko has written to the City Hall boss demanding an apology.
“Take notice that unless we receive the written apology within the next seven days from the date hereof, our instructions are to file suit against you without further reference to you and at your own risk as to costs and consequences arising therefrom,” read in part the letter dated January 21, 2019.
LACK OF RESPECT
The former executive resigned from her position on January 7 in a huff citing the need to pursue other interests, but later revealed that Sonko’s leadership style, controlling nature and lack of respect for county staff made her quit her job.
However, Sonko hit back at Ms Ouko alleging that she resigned after being implicated in the county’s bursary fund scandal.
The letter by Mr Amayo said that the allegations by the Governor insinuated that his client was involved in the loss of the bursary money creating a perception that she was a thief.
The letter states that on January 9, while addressing the media in Kilifi County, Governor Sonko allegedly said that Ms Ouko “as the head of the docket, the county government lost Sh357 million for which she is to be held to account. We wrote cheques to schools but the same cheques were secretly brought back, cancelled and fresh ones written to their cronies names”.
It is this statement that the advocate said has caused anguish, mental torture and psychologically affected his client, adding that it has portrayed their client as corrupt, thief and a person who is not worthy to hold any public office in the country and anywhere in the world.
“Your said words literally meant that our client to whom you were referring to was involved in the loss of the said money. This message has attracted social media attention with people calling our client a thief, ” stated the letter.