Woman sues Sonko, seeks Sh450,000 monthly for child support

A woman has sued former Nairobi governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko over child support, claiming the politician has neglected his parental responsibility of taking care of their 15-year-old daughter.

In the case filed at the magistrate court in Ngong, the woman is demanding monthly upkeep of Sh448,450 from Mr Sonko being support for the minor to cater for food and shopping, rent, security, clothing, and house help, entertainment, medical cover, education, transport and utilities.

Pending determination of the case, she wants Mr Sonko compelled to pay school fees of Sh86,000 and another Sh30,450 to cater for school-related expenses and uniform and provide medical cover and upkeep for the girl.

In addition, she wants Mr Sonko compelled to clear the outstanding school fees balance of Sh37,000.

Through lawyer Dan Okemwa, the woman says the minor is a form two student and has not reported back to school since it reopened on April 26, 2022.

She says Mr Sonko has failed and neglected to provide for the child’s basic necessities such as education, good health, food, clothing, shelter, entertainment and medication.

“Mr Sonko and I are the biological parents of the minor herein,” says the woman whose identity we have withheld for the minor’s dignity.

In the court papers, she describes Mr 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,” says the woman.

She states that she met Mr Sonko in 1999 and entered into a relationship which shortly turned into a romantic one. The relationship was on and off and out of it, they got the child on April 17, 2007.

The woman argues that she and Mr Sonko have equal parental responsibility for the said minor and an obligation to maintain her (the child).

“Mr 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 He has over the years willfully withdrawn support towards the maintenance of the minor thus denying her what is rightfully hers and forcing me to take full responsibility for the minor,” she says.

She discloses that she held a meeting with Mr Sonko in early 2018 at Maanzoni and he gave her Sh100,000 for the minor’s school fees and rent. Further that when the woman’s mother died in December 2018, he offered financial support to her family.

Since she is unemployed, she says it has become extremely hard to raise the school fees on her own given the harsh economic times in the country.

“The Respondent 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,” reads the court papers.

She states that although he 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.

He has incessantly shown no interest by failing to address the issue of how she (the minor) will be cared for, protected and safeguarded or giving emotional and financial support.

The magistrate court has ordered for status quo on the custody of the minor, meaning the mother continues living with her.

The advocate was also directed to furnish Mr Sonko with the court documents. The case will be mentioned on May 26, 2022.