Senator Murkomen was on Wednesday schooled by the Anti-Corruption Court Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti on the rights of an accused person after he brought Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko to court yet he was sick.
According to Ogoti the senator who among others is representing Sonko in the case on graft charges, it was not a must for the county boss to appear in court but could be represented by his legal team due to his health condition.
He went ahead to explain to Murkomen how he missed a point as a result of not practising law for some time.
"I know you don't practice. There is an authority from Machakos that each individual right of an accused it is considered singularly even if they are charged together. Which means the absence of one accused person cannot deter the rights of other accused persons. So your fear was unfounded," said Magistrate Ogoti.
“You didn’t have to disturb a sick person from the hospital, I still would have gone ahead and given directions,” said Ogoti.
This reminder by the magistrate to Elgeyo Marakwet senator caused light moments in the courtroom.
However, the governor has been freed with a cash bail of 15 Million shillings or a bond of 30 million shillings.
During Sonko's cash bail court hearing, the chief magistrate judge ordered the Governor to not access his county office and should be escorted by an officer, if the need arises of him accessing anything from his office.
Even though the Director of Public Prosecution did not want Sonko to be released since he might tamper with witnesses, Sonko has also been directed to avoid any public conversation about his 357 million shillings corruption case.
The governor's fate remains unclear as DPP digs deeper into the case.