mike sonko cover
mike sonko cover
Court papers filed in 2001 reveal that Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko confessed that he ailed from HIV. The court papers filed by the office of Director of Public Prosecutions say Sonko claimed in an affidavit that he was ailing from at least four life-threatening conditions as he sought to secure his release from prison 18 years ago.

The documents which were obtained by The Star, reveal that the governor had in 2001 said in an affidavit that he was HIV positive and epileptic.

In the affidavit, Sonko claimed that he was suffering from chronic tuberculosis and peptic ulcers. The county chief also claimed that he was by 2001 the son of a single mother who had died while he was behind bars.

‘I have undergone a lot of suffering. I lost my mother while in prison. she was a single parent and my only hope. my younger brother and sister are still in school and now depend on me. my wife was thrown out of the house and all the belongings seized,’ he said.

He also claimed that his conditions required ‘expensive treatment and management.’

‘Currently, I am admitted at the prison hospital and my chances of survival are very minimal hence seek to be released on medical grounds or in compliance of the presidential amnesty exercise dated 12/12/2000,’ Sonko says.

The affidavit was filed at the High Court in Nairobi.

Yesterday Sonko was taken from remand prison to hospital. Doctors attending to the governor at Kenyatta National Hospital did not say what he was being treated for but Sonko’s handlers said he suffered chest pains and high blood pressure.