The fight for the control of the leadership of the Nairobi County Government has deepened after the High Court allowed the withdrawal of a case challenging the nomination of Mike Sonko’s deputy governor nominee, Anne Kananu Mwenda.
On Thursday, Justice Hedwig Ong’undi allowed the withdrawal of a petition seeking to challenge the process of vetting Kananu, saying there is no prejudice suffered if the case is withdrawn.
“No public interest in this matter that will suffer as a result of petitioners’ move. [Peter] Agoro filed this petition as an individual and nowhere in his pleadings has it shown he has been representing other persons. The petition is now withdrawn and all other applications hanging on the side have nothing to fall on,” ordered the judge.
Sonko had moved to court seeking to stop Peter Agoro from withdrawing his case that barred Kananu from being vetted.
On December 7, 2020, the impeached governor contends that he wrote to Benson Mutura, who was then the Nairobi County Assembly Speaker, officially withdrawn the nomination of Kananu as his deputy.
But now everything is set for the vetting of Sonko’s nominee, according to Nairobi County Assembly Majority Leader Abdi Guyo.
“Kananu will be vetted on January 15 and everything is set. We received her name in February 2020 and we were set to vet her but the process was stopped by the court,” Guyo said.
Additionally, in a public notice by Nairobi County Assembly Clerk Edward Gichana, Mwenda will now face the committee on Friday, January 15, for a chance to assume the vacant office following the resignation of former holder Polycarp Igathe on January 31, 2018.
Sonko picked Kananu years after the resignation of Polycarp Igathe as the deputy governor.
However, her vetting was put on hold by the courts.
