Nairobi speaker charged with stealing

Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura was arraigned in court on Friday, April 22, 2022, and charged with stealing. Appearing before the court, Mutura's lawyer pleaded with Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Esther Kimilu to release his client, arguing that the accusations and arrest were meant to embarrass him. Magistrate Kimilu slapped the lawmaker with a Ksh1 million alternative bond. The case will be mentioned on May 16, 2022. Kimilu directed Speaker Mutura not to interfere with ongoing investigations into the matter. The Nairobi County Assembly speaker is accused of including his name in county travel lists and pocketing millions without actually travelling. “On diverse dates between the 1st day of February 2021 and 28th February 2022 in Nairobi City County, being the speaker of the County Assembly stole Ksh5,348,984 the property of the County Government of Nairobi which came into possession by virtue of your employment,” a charge sheet seen by Citizen Digital read in part. His lawyers pleaded with the court to release him and he was set free on a Ksh500,000 cash bail. Mutura was grilled at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters the whole day on Thursday, April 21, before spending the night at the Muthaiga Police Station. He had presented himself at the DCI headquarters after a failed attempt to arrest him at the Nairobi County Assembly on Wednesday, April 20. Mutura claimed that termed his arrest as a witch hunt due to his opposition to the extension of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) term and support for Deputy President William Ruto. [caption id="attachment_16701" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Deputy President William Ruto welcomes Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura and a host of Nairobi leaders to UDA at his official Karen Residence on Thursday, April 7, 2022. |Courtesy| DP William Ruto Twitter|[/caption]