Family wants Gakuo's appeal heard, determined posthumously
John Gakuo who died in a Nairobi hospital while he was serving jail time. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Gakuo, 68, was jailed together with former Local Government Permanent Secretary Sammy Kirui for abuse of office in connection with the purchase of cemetery land valued at Sh283 million.
The family of former Nairobi Town Clerk John Gakuo will pursue an appeal challenging his conviction and sentence, despite his passing on.
Appearing before Justice Hedwig Ong’udi on Friday, the family through lawyer Assa Nyakundi said it was the family wish for Mr Gakuo's name to be cleared. “The family maintains that Gakuo was not corrupt and we must try to clear his name,” he said.
The case was set to be heard by Justice John Onyiego but the judge was away. Justice Ong’udi directed them to appear before Justice Onyiego on November 22 for directions.
BAIL
Other persons jailed together with Mr Gakuo’s wants the court to review a decision denying them bail, pending appeal.
Mr Gakuo and former Local Government PS Sammy Kirui were jailed for three years each for failing to stop the purchase of land meant for cemetery for Nairobi, which led to the loss of Sh283 million.
Other accused persons are former Nairobi City Council legal secretary Mary Ng’ethe and Alexander Musee, who was chairman of the tender committee.
Ms Ng’ethe was sentenced to three years in jail and pay a fine of Sh52 million, failure to which she will serve an additional one year in jail. Mr Musee was sentenced to three years also and pay a mandatory fine of Sh32 million or serve an additional one year in jail, in default.
The two were found guilty of giving a misleading report purporting that the committee had agreed to buy the controversial 120-acre plot in Mavoko town. They also used a false valuation report to award the tender.
The court said the former officials ought to have stopped the payment to Naen Rech Ltd.
