Ex-Nairobi Finance CEC Claims Sonko’s Ouster Was State House Plot

Former Nairobi County Finance CEC Winfred Gathagu has told the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court that the graft charges facing ex-Governor Mike Sonko were part of a larger plot orchestrated at State House to remove him from office.

Testifying before Milimani Principal Magistrate Charles Ondieki, Gathagu revealed that senior State House officials approached her and other county executives in 2019, urging them to help fabricate criminal charges and support Sonko’s impeachment because he was fighting corruption at City Hall.

“I and my colleagues from Nairobi County were approached severally by senior officials from State House in order to assist in conjuring up solid cases against my former boss Mike Sonko for court cases, impeachment, and so on,” Gathagu testified.

Led in her evidence by lawyers Assa Nyakundi and Elizabeth Ochieng, Gathagu recounted how she became involved in the matter.

She told the court that although she recorded two statements with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on January 15 and 20, 2020, she was never called to testify as a prosecution witness.

Gathagu stated that there were several strategy meetings held at the State House focused on building a strong case against Sonko.

“I was involved in various things in this case which include recording statements, being a witness in the case against Sonko. There were strategy meetings held at State House in trying to come up with a solid case against my former boss,” she said.

She emphasized that the move to oust Sonko was triggered by his efforts to fight corruption within the county.

“That all happened because Sonko was fighting corruption at City Hall,” she said, adding, “All the plans to oust him were hatched at State House.

However, she declined to name any specific senior State House officials involved in the alleged plot, saying most witnesses in the case against Sonko testified in camera for their safety.

When cross-examined by State Prosecutor Wesley Nyamache, Gathagu admitted that she did not record any statement with the EACC regarding the alleged State House plot to remove Sonko.

The former finance officer also addressed the issue of payments to Webtribe, popularly known as JamboPay, which was contracted by the county government for electronic revenue collection.

“I want to confirm to this court that lmade payments to Webtribe, when I was Chief Officer of Finance. The payments were made for services rendered in collecting revenue electronically on behalf of Nairobi County,” she testified.

She acknowledged knowing the company’s director.

“Yes, I am aware of the director Danson Muchemi since we used to liaise with them on a day-to-day basis on revenue collection. I confirm I found the company had already been rendering services to the former governor Evans Kidero administration since 2018.”

Gathagu clarified that she paid the company without any external influence and explained why there were delays in payments, as questioned by EACC during investigations.

“The main reason for delayed payments to JamboPay was because the exchequer had not released money to the county, and sometimes the available funds were used to cater for urgent operational costs, that is what I told the EACC.”

She also revealed that some of the money was used to settle court-ordered payments.

Gathagu further distanced Sonko from financial operations at the county.

“Sonko was not involved in the payments of services offered. He was only involved in budget-making,” she said, adding that at no point did Sonko influence her or direct payments to any service providers.

Asked by lawyer Nyakundi whether she had been influenced to pay up to 25,000 individuals, she denied the claims.

“I was never influenced. I paid service providers only after receiving money from the Central Bank of Kenya,” she said.

Further, she confirmed Sonko had consistently raised concerns about malpractices by cashiers at City Hall and sought to have them fired.

“It is true that we discovered some irregularities in effecting payments,” she said.