The High Court on Thursday ruled that the nomination vetting and swearing-in of Anne Kananu as Deputy Governor were done within the law.
The three-judge bench that delivered the ruling was presided over by Justice Said Chitembwe and assisted by Justices Wilfrida Okwany and Weldon Korir.
However, Justice Korir was not present in court during the ruling.
Nairobi deputy Governor Ann Kananu at her office.
The court said that before his impeachment, Sonko had voluntarily nominated Kananu as a DG and upon the nomination, his mandate ended there.
The court ruled there was appropriate public participation in Kananu’s vetting dismissing the arguments by Sonko that there was no public participation.
Anne Kananu is the official Nairobi Deputy Governor – court rules
The court dismissed the argument that Kananu had to be formally appointed to office after being vetting by Sonko and not an acting governor.
The court ruled that the acting governor can complete the process of her swearing-in and that there was nothing wrong with the swearing-in of Kananu.
Sonko and all the other petitioners had opposed her nomination arguing that it was illegal.
Sonko said he had revoked her nomination in December 2020.
However, Kananu had argued that the withdrawal of her nomination by Sonko had an ill motive.
The court found that Sonko never withdrew Kananu’s nomination as DG as he had alleged.
It ruled that the attempt to withdraw the nomination of Kananu by Sonko was unlawful.
Justice Okwany said that the nomination of Kananu had been received by IEBC and Sonko could not withdraw the nomination without the approval of the county assembly.
Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.