Embattled Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has finally broken his silence and said he has decided to stay away from City Hall to allow the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) complete investigations on the controversial garbage collection tender.

The  governor also appeared to make an about turn on his promise three weeks ago to appoint his deputy and instead said he would only do so after the amendment of the County Government Act that would put in place clear guidelines.

Conduct probe

Sonko who is not new to controversy has been out of the limelight following investigations by the anti-graft body.

But in a statement yesterday, the governor re-emerged  disclosing that his absence was to allow EACC conduct investigations without any interference.

“I have made a personal decision to stay away from my City Hall office to avoid being accused of interfering with records which might be used as evidence against me. The anti-graft agencies must be allowed to do their work without interference or intimidation,” he said.

Further, Sonko reiterated his earlier comments of supporting the multi-sectoral approach of fighting corruption promising to step aside if by any chance he will have a case to answer.

For the last close to two weeks, Sonko has been under the radar of the anti-graft body who are questioning him over Sh600 million tenders awarded to private companies for garbage collection.

Commission’s radar

Early this month, the governor spent close to 10 hours at Integrity Centre as sleuths sought to establish if he has any links with the directors of at least four out of the 13 companies under commission’s radar. 

The investigators intimated that garbage collection contracts and payments were irregularly made for a period spanning two financial years, 2017/18 and 2018/19. 

They said Sh162, 092,407 was paid to two firms for collecting garbage in areas they had not been pre-qualified for.