Kidero acquitted in Sh213M graft case: relief washes over the former Nairobi governor as the Anti-Corruption Court delivers a decisive blow to long-standing allegations, freeing Dr Evans Kidero and nine co-accused from 17 counts of corruption tied to a massive county procurement scandal.
Former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, ex-County Secretary Lilian Ndegwa and ex-Finance Chief Jimmy Kiamba were cleared of Sh213.3m graft charges after the court found all witnesses testified in their favour.
Magistrate Victor Wakumile handed down the ruling on November 6 in a packed Milimani courtroom, declaring the prosecution’s evidence too thin to hold water after a gruelling five-year trial.
“The state has failed to establish a prima facie case beyond reasonable doubt,” Wakumile stated, his gavel echoing like a long-overdue exhale for Kidero, who stood stoic in a navy suit, flanked by a phalanx of lawyers.
While the verdict clears most, former County Head of Accounting Stephen Ogago Osiro must now mount a defence as his case trudges on, a lone thread in the unravelling tapestry of Nairobi’s fiscal follies.
The saga dates back to Kidero’s turbulent 2013-2017 tenure, a period marked by ambitious infrastructure pushes that often veered into controversy.
Prosecutors from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) alleged a Sh213 million heist through inflated tenders for medical supplies, pinning Kidero as the architect who greenlit dubious deals with shadowy suppliers.
Raids in 2019 scooped up ledgers and laptops, painting a picture of kickbacks funnelled through middlemen, but witnesses crumbled under cross-examination, recanting statements or admitting coercion.
“This was a witch hunt from day one,” Kidero told reporters outside court, his voice steady after years of house arrest whispers and asset freezes that clipped his post-office ventures.
“Nairobi deserved better than dragged-out distractions; now, let’s focus on progress.” Wakumile’s 45-page judgement dissected the prosecution’s house of cards: Forensic audits by Deloitte flagged irregularities but lacked the smoking gun linking Kidero directly to the syphoned funds.
Key exhibits, like email trails and bank slips, were deemed circumstantial, with chain-of-custody lapses rendering them inadmissible.
Co-accused, including procurement officers and suppliers, walked free too, their roles dismissed as “peripheral at best”. For Osiro, however, the magistrate flagged “glaring discrepancies” in ledger entries, ordering him to respond within 14 days or face a full trial.
“One man’s relief is another’s reckoning,” noted legal analyst Judy Thongori in a post-ruling TV panel, highlighting how the split verdict shows the EACC’s hit-or-miss track record, with conviction rates hovering at 45 per cent per 2024 Justice Ministry stats.
Kidero’s acquittal ripples through Kenya’s political pond, a boon for opposition figures eyeing 2027 runs who see it as vindication against Uhuru-era probes.
“Evans fought the good fight; this clears the path for servant leaders,” said the former Jubilee MP amid a flood of congratulatory memes dubbing Kidero “The Unsinkable Governor”.
Critics, though, aren’t buying the clean slate. “Acquittals don’t erase public doubt; accountability demands closure,” pressed in a Nation Media op-ed.
For Nairobi, still grappling with Sh100 billion in inherited debts from Kidero’s era, the verdict reopens wounds over ghost projects like the stalled county abattoir.
In a capital where corruption whispers drown out development cheers, Kidero’s acquittal in the Sh213M graft case relief feels like a plot twist in an endless drama. Does it signal a thaw in judicial overreach, or just another chapter in elite impunity?