Govt. to pay Gor Semelang’o per diem daily while he’s in jail; this is the much he’ll earn

Former Youth Fund boss Gor Semelang’o will earn Ksh54, 000 in form of per diem for the 30 days he will be in civil jail at the Industrial Area Prison, K24 Digital has learnt.

Gor Semelang’o was, on Tuesday, September 24, sentenced to 30 days in jail for defying a court order, which directed him to pay Ksh9 million which he owed George Miyare & Co. Advocates.

The edict was issued by a Nairobi court on November 27, 2017, but Gor Semelang’o failed to abide by it, prompting the court to issue a warrant of arrest against him.

The flamboyant philanthropist, however, found a way of dodging the police network, the Milimani Law Court was told on Tuesday.

The Nairobi magistrate’s court, however, ordered police to look for Semelang’o and arraign him on Tuesday evening.

That directive led to the dramatic arrest of Gor Semelang’o in Nairobi’s central business district.

At the court, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail without an option of bailing himself out.

Gor Semelang’o, as of 2017, owed George Miyare & Co. Advocates Ksh3.6 million. Interest on the money has since pushed his debt burden to Ksh9 million.

“He was jailed because he colluded with police to evade arrest,” an informant told K24 Digital on Tuesday.

“After the 30 days end, then George Miyare & Co. Advocates can file a formal complaint in court to coerce the businessman to pay them the Ksh9 million that he owes them,” said the source.

And, in a September 24, 2019 written order to the lead officer at Industrial Area Prison, the magistrate directed that the State pays the detainee Ksh1, 800 daily for 30 days as “subsistence allowance”, given he is in detention under a civil case arrangement, and not a criminal offence.

“And, whereas the said Evans Gor Semelang’o has neither obeyed the decree nor satisfied the court that he is entitled to be discharged from custody, you are hereby commanded and required to take and receive the said Evans Gor Semelang’o into the civil prison and keep him imprisoned therein for a period not exceeding 30 days, or until the said decree shall be fully satisfied or the said Evans Gor Semelang’o shall be otherwise entitled to be released according to the terms and provisions of section 42 of the Civil Procedure Act 1948.

“The court does hereby fix Ksh1, 800 per diem as the rate of the monthly allowance for the subsistence of the said Evans Gor Semelang’o during his confinement under this warrant of committal,” said the magistrate in a letter to Industrial Area Prison officer in charge.