Wiper Democratic Party Mombasa gubernatorial candidate,Mike Sonko has condemned the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Hajj and Chief Justice Martha Koome for interfering with his court cases.
This is after Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) instructed returning officers not to clear impeached public officials from gunning for elective seats in August polls unless a court order compels them to process their nomination papers.
The CJ said people who have been convicted or impeached from office remain guilty of the offences that faced them until the sentencing and conviction are either reversed or set aside by a higher court.
Mr Sonko said the laws and the constitution allows him to vie for any political anywhere seat until proven guilty. He said he has invested and was born in Mombasa and has any right to contest in the Coast region.
"Those utterances issued by the CJ and DPP are careless and threats to me. They are not above the laws. I have constitutional rights to defend myself. I respect the DPP and the CJ but I have a right to criticise them," said Mr Sonko.
In an interview with Spice FM, Ms Koome said those convicted for criminal offences cannot hold or run for a public office, pending the hearing and determination of any appeal filed to challenge their sentencing.
“You remain impeached until that impeachment is lifted. When you are sentenced, you are sentenced until the sentence is set aside,” Justice Koome said on Friday.
But briefing the press on the woes bedeviling his candidature following the IEBC and CJ's verdict, Mr Sonko says he won't back down until proven guilty by the courts.
"I am ready to respect the court verdict if they will bar impeached governors from vying but the same laws allows me to exhaust all the appeals. Mr Hajj stop threatening me with cases still in court, and those that were concluded 24 years ago. Come and arrest me if I have any case to answer," he said.
The embattled politician said he cannot be convicted by the DPP yet his cases are still ongoing in court have not been concluded.
He said he decided to keep a low profile only to be proved by Mr Hajj who said he should be rearrested to go complete his sentence.
The former Nairobi governor insisted that he is still in the race to succeed Hassan Joho as the next governor of Mombasa.
"I'm still in the race, Mombasa people need change, some people have started feeling threatened because they know that I will bring the change. If things go worse, we have plan B, it is not a must that I be the governor but I will make sure that Mombasa gets change" said Sonko.
