Nairobi governor-in-waiting Ann Kananu was not meant to be anywhere near the top of the power pyramid in the capital city’s government.
In fact, her nomination as deputy governor in January last year by Mike Sonko was only meant to buy time and ease pressure on the then governor, who had operated without a deputy since Polycarp Igathe resigned in January 2018. But Ms Kananu is now a heartbeat away from making history as the first female governor of Nairobi and the third to occupy that seat.
Her nomination, just like that of firebrand lawyer-turned politician Miguna Miguna before her, caught many by surprise. She was not even among the four women that Mr Sonko had shortlisted in August 2020 as likely candidates. The four were politician Margaret Wanjiru, businesswoman Agnes Kagure, and lawyers Karen Nyamu and Jane Weru.
Ms Kananu was one of the lowly ranked chief officers at City Hall, having joined City Hall in May 2018 in the Disaster Management and Coordination department. She was plucked from the Kenya Airports Authority, where she had been a security supervisor in charge of quality control and training for 13 years.
Even as other chief officers were promoted to the County Executive Committee, the 41-year-old remained in her position.
Woodley/Kenyatta Golf Course MCA Mwangi Njihia, the chairperson of the Nairobi County Assembly’s Culture and Community Services Committee, which vetted Ms Kananu, said he never thought she would rise to deputy governor, let alone governor.
“I am the one who vetted her, and even though she had that political blood in her, I did not think she could rise to that position,” he said. But less than two years later, a decision by a Nairobi court would be the unlikely beginning of Ms Kananu’s rise to power.
In December 2019, Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti barred Mr Sonko from accessing his City Hall office after he was charged with fraud through the irregular awarding of tenders totalling Sh357 million.
Within a month of the court’s direction, Mr Sonko decided to nominate Ms Kananu as deputy governor. In a January 6, 2020 letter to the then assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi, Mr Sonko cited the need for continuity and “in the interest of stability” in the capital.
“I therefore humbly urge the assembly to expedite the vetting process of the said nominee…” the letter read.
Ms Kananu was cleared by the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) the following month. But before the assembly could begin her vetting, the process was stopped following a court petition by Nairobi resident Peter Agoro, who questioned Mr Sonko’s legal capacity to nominate a deputy now that he had been barred from office.
But this was not a normal petition. It was part of a well-choreographed plan to keep the office vacant as insurance for Mr Sonko.
In January this year, Ms Kananu spilled the beans – in an affidavit filed at the High Court, she alleged that Mr Sonko, immediately after nominating her, sponsored Mr Agoro’s case challenging her nomination.
“With ill motive, Sonko (knew) that once I assumed office as the deputy governor of Nairobi, he was easily and likely to be impeached by the assembly,” Ms Kananu said.
Mr Sonko would be impeached by Nairobi MCAs on December 3, 2020 when 88 ward representatives voted in favour of his removal. Two weeks later, the Senate upheld the assembly’s resolution.
But Mr Sonko would not go down easily. In a sworn affidavit, he asked the court to issue conservatory orders against the vetting of Ms Kananu, arguing that he had revoked her nomination as deputy governor on December 7, 2020. This came after the court allowed Mr Agoro to withdraw his petition, paving the way for the vetting of Ms Kananu. She was vetted on January 15 and her name approved by MCAs.
During the vetting, Ms Kananu narrated that Mr Sonko had tried to trick her out of the position by sending her a blank letter purporting that he had withdrawn her nomination. She said the plot was to have her admit to having received a letter withdrawing her nomination. She also revealed that Mr Sonko tried to get her to withdraw from the vetting by dangling a running mate position in the event of a by-election.
However, the ship had already sailed and in under five hours, Ms Kananu would take the oath of office as deputy governor and three days later replace Speaker Benson Mutura as acting governor.
But she had to wait longer to be sworn in as the substantive governor after the Law Society of Kenya obtained orders stopping the planned swearing-in until a case in the appellate court was determined. Last Friday, the Court of Appeal cleared the way for Ms Kananu’s swearing-in as the substantive county boss.
