Court dismisses Railas application against Waiguru

The High Court on Tuesday (November 21) dismissed an application by Opposition chief Raila Odinga seeking a lifestyle audit on Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru.

Judge Joseph Sergon rejected Mr Odinga’s application saying it lacked merit.

The opposition leader wanted the court to compel Waiguru to disclose, among other issues, her salary, allowances, list of properties owned, and material worth in a case where she sued Odinga for defamation.

Justice Sergon, however, ruled that though Ms Waiguru declined to respond to some queries raised by Mr Odinga’s lawyer on her lifestyle, she gave reasons for not answering.

“I am satisfied that Ms Waiguru responded to the interrogatories in accordance with the law,” said the Judge.

Waiguru declined to answer some of the questions saying they were unnecessary and unreasonable. She further accused Odinga of fishing for evidence.

The feud between the two leaders began in September 2015 when Waiguru, who was then devolution cabinet secretary, sued Odinga for linking her to the Sh1.8 Billion National Youth Service (NYS) scandal.

Odinga had unveiled a dossier alluding to how millions of public funds were siphoned out of public coffers under the watch of Ms Waiguru. This forced Waiguru to move to court claiming her name had been tarnished.

She also sued former senators Boni Khalwale (Kakamega) and Johnstone Muthama (Machakos) over remarks they made at during a Cord rally in November 2015 at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, implying that she had irregularly received public funds.