Former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko has been sued by a woman seeking Ksh448,450 monthly for the upkeep of their 15-year-old daughter.
The woman who claims to be Sonko's mistress wants the court to compel him to make monthly maintenance of over Ksh400,000 in order for her to meet the needs of the girl.
Pending determination of the case, she wants Sonko compelled to pay school fees of Ksh86,000 and another Ksh30,450 to cater for school-related expenses and uniform and provide medical cover and upkeep for the girl.
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In addition, she wants him compelled to clear the outstanding school fees balance of Ksh37,000.
In her application filed in court, the woman known as CD claims Sonko has neglected his parental responsibility of taking care of their child.
"Sonko has failed, refused and or neglected to provide for a minor with adequate and or basic necessities such as education, good health, food, clothing, shelter, entertainment and medication," the woman stated in her court documents.
According to court papers, the woman states that the minor is a Form Two student and has not reported back to school after reopening on April 26.
“Sonko and I are the biological parents of the minor herein,” says the woman whose identity we have withheld for the minor’s dignity.
Through lawyer Dan Okemwa, the woman describes Sonko as a person of means and that the minor is entitled to equal treatment and provision like his other children.
“The unequal treatment has affected the minor psychologically as she does not understand why her father is abrasive towards her. Besides, the minor has been bullied and ridiculed in school because of her surname thus causing her emotional trauma and has indicated she wants to be transferred from the school,” the woman claims
CD says she has been in a relationship with the Sonko for eight years which resulted in her getting pregnant.
"l met Sonko in 1999 and created a relationship which shortly turned into a romantic one. The relationship was on and off and out of it we got the child on April 17, 2007," she says.
The woman argues that she and Sonko have equal parental responsibility for the said minor and an obligation to maintain her (the child).
“Sonko has always been defiant and brazen to accept responsibility and assist me with the maintenance of the minor. He has over the years willfully withdrawn support towards the maintenance of the minor thus denying her what is rightfully hers forcing me to take full responsibility for the minor,” the woman says.
She discloses that she held a meeting with Sonko in early 2018 at Maanzoni and he gave her Ksh100,000 for the minor’s school fees and rent and when the woman’s mother died in December 2018, he offered financial support to her family.
Lawyer Okemwa informed the court that his client is unemployed and that it has become extremely hard to raise the school fees on her own given the harsh economic times in the country.
“Sonko is a politician and high-ranking businessman within the republic who lives a high-end life and is not willing to offer the minor the same kind of life while offering a high-end life to his other children, which is a clear indication of discrimination on his part,” the woman says in her court papers.
It is further her argument that although Sonko knows he is the biological father of the child, he does not want anything to do with the minor.
“I have always been willing to have a DNA test done to prove the paternity of the minor, a fact which Sonko is well aware of as we have discussed the same on several occasions,” she says in her affidavit.
However, the magistrate court has ordered for status quo on the custody of the minor, meaning the mother continues living with her.
The lawyer was also directed to furnish Sonko with the court pleadings in the matter.
The case will be mentioned on May 26, 2022.
