Here is what you need to know to keep up to speed with today’s happenings.

Waititu’s sentencing

Former Kiambu County Governor Ferdinand Waititu will be sentenced on Thursday, February 13, 2025, after he was found guilty in a corruption case.

Waititu and his co-accused, including his wife, Susan Wangari, were implicated in a Ksh588 million scandal and will be presented to the Anti-Corruption Court in Milimani for sentencing at 10:30 am.

On Wednesday, February 12, 2025, Waititu, through his lawyer, John Sakwa, pleaded for mercy, saying his family has undergone a lot during the trial days.

“My clients have a word to the court that what transpired will never happen again and they are really sorry; they are asking this honourable court to have mercy on them and give them a second chance in life,” Sakwa urged the court.

Sakwa further informed the court that his client had gone through a lot, including their family being dragged through the mud.

Sakwa added that his clients had lost everything, which, according to him, was punishment enough for them.

Waititu’s lawyer thus pleaded with Chief Magistrate Thomas Nzioki to consider that while pronouncing the sentence.

“Your honour, my clients are flat on the ground; they have nothing; they lost everything,” lawyer Sakwa told the court.

He told the court that in the sentencing the court should also consider the two are a spouse, and if the court gives them a harsh sentence, other people depending on them will suffer.

First-time offenders

Additionally, he cited that they are first-time offenders and they have been cooperating during the investigations and court proceedings.

DPP’s stance

Earlier, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions lawyer Faith Mwila stated that considering that corruption has been killing the Kenyan economy, the accused persons should face a strict sentence to serve as an example to the rest.

She said that due to this, markets have been distorted, thus discouraging investors and pushing them away from investing in Kenya.

Notably, she said that the first accused, the former Governor Waititu, and the third accused, the former Chief Officer of Road and Public Utilities Lukas Mwangi, alias Lucas, were required to have high levels of integrity but failed by engaging in corruption.

“Your honour he court should consider the 1st accused person, who was the Governor of Kiambu, and the 3rd person, who was a Chief Officer of roads and public utilities at the county; they held public offices and had positions of great responsibilities,” ODPP lawyer Mwila told the court.

Mwila said that their acts erode the public trust in governance.

She added that Testimony Enterprises and its directors, the 4th and 5th accused people, intentionally and deliberately submitted false information and documents to the County government of Kiambu, leading to the award of the tender to them.

Mwila stated that the fraudulent actions resulted in the award of a multimillion-shilling tender to an unqualified entity, leading to the loss of public funds that were paid to them by the County government of Kiambu amounting to Ksh147 million.

ODPP asked the court to impose a harsh sentence on the accused because the contract they entered with the Kiambu County government was obtained by fraud.

“We ask this court to impose a harsh sentence against the accused person to serve as an example to any person thinking of engaging in any corrupt conduct,” lawyer Mwila told the court.

Furthermore, lawyer Mwila said that they are praying the accused sentences to be both fine and imprisonment and also be barred from vying for any political position for 10 years.

The five will remain in undisclosed police cells and be presented for sentencing on Thursday, February 13, 2025, at 10:30.