CS Margret Kobia issues statement condemning Mike Sonko for attacking Esther Passaris

Gov't issues statement after Sonko's attack on Passaris

Mumbi Mutuko

June 7, 2019 3:37 PM

Sonko asked to act right

Governor Mike Sonko during a JKL interview

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia issued a statement on Friday condemning the actions of Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko against Nairobi County Woman Representative Esther Passaris.

CS Kobia expressed concern over what she termed as an ongoing onslaught on women in leadership positions in Kenya.

She noted that women in general have been violated in various ways and attacked adding that no one deserves such humiliation in public.

Public Service CS Prof Margaret Kobia Pulse Live Kenya

"The normalization of gender-based violence is worrying and sets a bad precedent for our children... we must have a difficult dialogue to arrest the escalating human rights violation," said CS Kobia.

According to the Youth and Gender Affairs CS, no person regardless of their position in society should unleash such disrespectable utterances in public.

The CS said that her ministry will ensure that no individual suffers abuse "or have their rights violated as a consequence of their gender".

Sonko's war of words

Sonko defended his remarks towards Nairobi County Woman Representative Esther Passaris, saying he owes no one any apologies.

Governor Sonko addressing Nairobians during the Madaraka Day celebrations which Esther Passaris walked out of Pulse Live Kenya

He claimed that he was only defending himself after Ms Passaris questioned the source of his wealth which he uses to finance his charitable works.

The Nairobi governor also claimed that Passaris wanted to create enmity between him and the women of his county.

During an interview on the JKL show on Citizen TV on Wednesday night, Sonko brought text messages and audio clips of his chats with Passaris to defend himself against accusations made by her during the recent Madaraka Day fete.

Mumbi Mutuko