Nairobi senator Mike Sonko is in trouble after Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko ordered police to urgently interrogate him for purporting to be Kenya’s acting president.
Tobiko wrote to the Inspector General of Police to probe Sonko for referring to himself as an acting president during a funeral event in Machakos on Friday.
“My attention has been drawn to a video clip aired by various TV stations and widely shared on social media platforms in which Senator Sonko is captured engaging in disruptive conduct and uttering words to the effect that he is the acting President of the Republic of Kenya,” reads Tobiko’s letter.
“I direct that you conduct urgent investigations into the said conduct and utterances, have Hon Senator Sonko interrogated in respect of the said conduct and utterances and urgently forward the file to this office for appropriate action," wrote Tobiko.
Sonko was captured in a video telling mourners that because of the president and his deputy's absence, he was the acting head of state.
“President Uhuru Kenyatta is in Togo. Deputy President William Ruto is in France. I am Number Three in command, politically, influence-wise and socially. I am now the acting President of the Republic of Kenya,”
The Senator ordered all the security officers at the event to attend to him as the acting President and referred to mourners as rubbish (loose translation from actual Swahili word 'ghasia').