Former Nairobi Town Clerk John Gakuo, the man who is credited for greening the capital city, has died. Gakuo passed on at the Mbagathi Hospital after falling ill at prison where he was serving a three-year jail term over the cemetery land scandal.
Gakuo was among those jailed by Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti in May this year after they were found guilty guilty of abuse of office and breach of procurement laws. Reports indicate Gakuo and others jailed alongside him had been moved to the maximum security section of the Nairobi Remand Prison in Industrial Area after being found in possession of a phone.
“John Gakuo passed on today morning while receiving treatment in Mbagathi Hospital,” Kenya Prisons Service Commissioner Isaiah Osugo told Capital FM News on telephone from Mombasa, “he has been sick for a while.” His body was taken to the City Mortuary.
Others jailed alongside him over the Ksh 283 million scam involving a 120-acre land in Mavoko town were former Local Government Permanent Secretary Sammy Kirui and City Hall officials Mary Ngethe and Alexander Musee.
Gakuo and Kirui were also fined Ksh 1 million while Ng’ethe was fined Ksh 52 million and Musee Ksh 32 million failing which they will serve an additional year in jail. An appeal by Gakuo to be released on medical grounds was shot down. Another appeal against the sentence is pending.
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