Kananu vetting case to be heard on Thursday
High court has directed a case seeking to bar the Nairobi County Assembly from vetting Anne Kananu Mwenda to be heard on Thursday.
Justice Anthony Mrima directed the parties in the case filed by impeached governor Mike Sonko to file their submissions by 2pm on Wednesday ahead of inter-parties hearing.
The directive comes after Sonko in a new petition filed by lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui on Thursday last week wanted the court to stop the county assembly from vetting Kananu.
He added that Kananu was still his deputy governor nominee until December 7, 2020 when he revoked and withdrew her nomination.
But Kananu through Lawyer Paul Muite told the court that the letter purporting to withdraw her nomination is useless as it has no legal effect.
Ex-governor also accuses the Nairobi County Assembly and Mutura of plotting to appoint Mwenda as the deputy governor, terming the said move null and void and outside the precincts of the law.
Sonko further argued that on February 17, 2020 Justice Mumbi Ngugi had stopped the vetting and approval of Anne Kananu Mwenda as the Deputy Governor of Nairobi.
However, Sonko also claimed that President Uhuru Kenyatta 's sister Christina Pratt Kenyatta tried pushing for the appointment of Jane Weru as a deputy governor last year.
In the court documents, Sonko alleged that Pratt called him just before he was impeached asking him to nominate one Jane Weru as the deputy governor and revoke the nomination of Kananu.
In his current petition, Sonko has named President Uhuru Kenyatta’s sister Christina Pratt Kenyatta and Jane Weru as interested parties.
At the same time Sonko is also seeking conservatory orders barring acting Governor Benson Mutura from making any changes at City Hall pending hearing and determination of Sonko's application.
This is after on Wednesday last week Mutura made new appointments including the reinstatement of Janet Ouko who resigned in January 2019 during then Governor Sonko’s tenure as the County Executive Committee (CEC) member in charge of Education.
Mutura transferred Lucia Mulwa from the Education docket to Agriculture and appointed Jairus Musumba as the Acting County Secretary.
He also appointed Paul Mutungi as the Chief of Staff and Brian Weke as the legal advisor for the Governor’s office.
