Kenya: Nairobi governor Mike Sonko arrested over corruption

Reuters | Police in Kenyan police arrested the Nairobi County governor, Mike Sonko, on Friday on corruption charges, a high profile move in the country’s much trumpeted anti-graft push.

Chief public prosecutor Noordin Haji told a news conference that Gov. Sonko and his associates were accused of conspiracy to commit corruption, failure to comply with laws related to procurement, unlawful acquisition of public property and laundering the proceeds of crime.

Sonko and his assistants did not respond to calls seeking comment. He made no comment to waiting reporters as he disembarked from a police helicopter at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport and was taken handcuffed by a police car to the headquarters of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

Citizens and local investors have long complained of corruption in Kenya, East Africa’s business hub.

President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed Haji, a former deputy head of national intelligence, last year after years of taking little action to rein in widespread graft.

On Friday, Haji accused Sonko, who runs the Kenyan capital as Nairobi’s most senior regional politician, of “deploying intimidation tactics and using goons to threaten law enforcement officials” investigating the case.

Sonko, a former senator, was elected governor in 2017.

On Thursday, he received an award sponsored by the Kenya Red Cross and United Nations Volunteers for encouraging volunteering.

Sonko has been photographed handing out cash for things like hospital bills but Nairobi has seen little improvement in public services.