Mike Sonko comes to rescue of man jailed for stealing cooking oil & rice from Naivas

Sonko settled the Sh100, 000 fine that had been imposed on Mr Chivondo after he was found guilty of shoplifting from Naivas Supermarket.

The former county boss shared a screengrab, indicating that he had deposited Sh100K to the Judiciary M-Pesa paybill number.

The politician pointed out that majority of Kenyans are languishing in poverty and they can't even afford to feed their families.

“Majority of Kenyans are languishing in poverty even to afford a daily meal for their families is a problem, it is because of this reason that I decided to pay the court fine for Mr. Alvin Linus Chivondo who was sentenced to one-year imprisonment for stealing cooking oil, tea leaves, Dawaat rice and a bottle of honey.

“In his mitigation Alvin pleaded for leniency and told the court he lost his job two months ago and he has a four months’ baby, they had not eaten for four days. I have also promised to give him a one month food stock plus offer him a job as well," reads Sonko's statement.

He added “Haters should not politicise Alvin's case as I'm not paying his fine to seek for any political mileage. Here is a link of another similar story which occurred three years ago,”.

Linus was accused of stealing 5kgs of rice, 5 litres of cooking oil, 2kgs of sugar and other items valued at Sh3,165 from a Naivas Supermarket branch in Nairobi.

Odinga demands immediate Release of Linus Chivondo

ODM Party leader Raila Odinga had also called for the immediate release of Alvin Linus Chivondo.

Odinga sympathised with the convict who told the court that he stole the items to feed his family.

The former prime minister also criticised some judicial officers for what he considered as favouritism by jailing the young man but allowing politicians facing cases to campaign freely without prosecution.

“Let Alvin Linus Chivondo be released unconditionally! Criminals are now getting a reprieve to campaign freely, while petty offenders are being jailed. Let the courts get their priorities right, for once, you can't jail a man for trying to feed his family,” Odinga said in a post on Twitter.

Chivondo pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and handling stolen items before Milimani Law Courts chief magistrate Wendy Micheni.

The former prime minister also criticised some judicial officers for what he considered as favouritism by jailing the young man but allowing politicians facing cases to campaign freely without prosecution.

Sonko comes to rescue of man jailed for stealing cooking oil & Rice from Naivas Sonko comes to rescue of man jailed for stealing cooking oil & Rice from Naivas Pulse Live Kenya

“Let Alvin Linus Chivondo be released unconditionally! Criminals are now getting a reprieve to campaign freely, while petty offenders are being jailed. Let the courts get their priorities right, for once, you can't jail a man for trying to feed his family,” Odinga said in a post on Twitter.

Chivondo pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and handling stolen items before Milimani Law Courts chief magistrate Wendy Micheni.