Nairobi senator resigns as chairman of COVID-19 committee after found flouting government curfew
Nairobi’s Senator Johnson Sakaja on Monday resigned as chairman of the Senate Adhoc Committee on COVID-19 after he was arrested over the weekend for drinking beyond curfew hours.
“I take responsibility for having flouted the COVID-19 rules, I was outside my home past 9PM. It is regrettable but all of us make mistakes,” he said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta in April imposed a nationwide nighttime curfew and a partial lockdown in a bid to curb further spread of the disease.
After subsequent extensions, the lockdown was lifted earlier this month, but the curfew was stayed for anther month, now to end on 6 August.
“No one is above the law. I will be appearing in court tomorrow and the entire course of the law will be followed. If it is to be fined or to be jailed, the law will apply to me just like every other Kenyan,” Sakaja said.
The senator was arrested alongside three others at a pub in the capital. Reports indicate police found the group indulging around 1AM.
Sakaja has in the past expressed his desire to vie to become Nairobi Governor in the country’s 2022 General Elections.
“I was elected a senator. However, if the people decide that they want me, I will go for it [governorship],” said Sakaja in an interview with local K24 teevision.
BREAKING: Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, 3 others spend night at Kilimani Police Station following their arrest at a bar. He has since been released pic.twitter.com/s2D7INWFyl
— The African Voice (@teddyeugene) July 18, 2020
