High Court suspends prosecution of Margaret Nyakang'o

By Peter Ochieng

Embattled Controller of Budge (CoB) Margaret Nyakang'o can breathe a sigh of relief.

This is after High Court Judge Chacha Mwita suspended her prosecution, after Mugirango West MP Stephen Mogaka filed a petition challenging the arrest and subsequent arraignment of Nyakang’o in a Mombasa court on Tuesday this week went against her rights.

Justice Chacha Mwita ruled that her investigation and prosecution stands suspended until 21st May 2023. 

“The arrest comes in the wake of her public statements with regards to the fiscal improprieties within the running of various state arms and agencies and is a manifestation of a knee-jerk reaction with an ulterior motive,” the legislature stated in court papers.

Mogaka was elected on the Jubilee Party ticket, under the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya political formation.

He has listed the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) as respondents while seeking for orders to prohibit the Inspector General of Police, DCI, and DPP from investigating and prosecuting her.

Nyakang'o and 11 others are facing various fraud-related charges, stemming from a criminal case involving a Sacco dating back to 2016.

She was reportedly arrested on Tuesday, charged, and released on a Sh2 million bond, with the option of a similar surety or Sh500,000 in cash after pleading not guilty to the charges.

Speaking on her arrest, Nyakang’o said that she was trailed by police officers to her home in Karen, Nairobi on Monday evening.

They told her to accompany them to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) for her to record a statement, directig her to put on warm clothes.

"One of the officers advised me to get clothing that would keep me warm and I did not understand. I was taken to the CBK department that deals with fraud and never recorded a statement. The officers informed me that they had been directed to take me to Mombasa and advised my husband to head back home," she told Citizen TV.

She was driven to Mombasa on Monday night, arriving on Tuesday morning. Detectives then handed her over to their colleagues in Mombasa, before she was presented in court.