Businessman seeks removal of Nairobi Finance boss Charles Kerich from office
Crime and Justice
By
Nancy Gitonga
| May 27, 2026
A petition has been filed at the High Court seeking the immediate removal of Nairobi City County Executive Committee Member for Finance Charles Kerich following his sentencing to three months in prison for contempt of court.
In the lawsuit filed at Milimani High Court, Nairobi businessman Bryan Yongo is seeking conservatory orders to bar Kerich from exercising any powers, duties, and functions of the Finance CEC office.
Yongo argues that Kerich's prison sentence constitutionally and legally disqualifies him from continuing to discharge the responsibilities of a State officer.
" The change of circumstances is not incremental but transformative. Kerich who at the time of the original Petition was a State officer found in contempt of court, is now a State officer sentenced to prison and can not continue holding a public office," Yongo adds
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The petition names Kerich as the 1st Respondent alongside Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, the County Assembly of Nairobi, the Speaker of the County Assembly, the Nairobi City County Government, and the Attorney General.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is listed as an interested party.
On May 19, 2026, Justice Francis Gikonyo of the High Court sentenced Kerich to serve three months in prison at Industrial Area Prison for contempt of court, without the option of a fine over failure to pay a city firm Sh106 million as earlier ordered by the court.
The ruling arose from a contempt application filed by Kwengu & Company Advocates in a dispute tied to more than Sh106.7 million that the county government had been ordered to remit to the law firm from funds due to Foton East Africa Limited.
In his Certificate of Urgency, Yongo argues that Kerich's continued nominal occupation of the powerful finance docket while he has been sentenced or is behind bars poses a grave and immediate constitutional threat.
"Every day that Kerich remains in nominal occupation of the office of CEC Finance while incarcerated is a day of continuing and escalating contravention of Articles 1, 2, 3, 10, 73, 75, 159 and 232 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010," the petitioner states in the court documents.
Yongo further warns of a real financial risk if a new person is not appointed to replace Kerich as he serves his three-month jail term.
"There is a real and immediate risk that public funds of the County will be committed, disbursed, authorised or otherwise dealt with in the name of an incarcerated Accounting Officer, creating legal uncertainty as to the validity of those transactions and potential liability for the County, for third parties, and for the public," The court papers state in part.
"The matter is of profound public interest, concerning the integrity of the financial management of the largest county government in the Republic, and affecting every resident, taxpayer and contractor of the Nairobi City County Government."
The petitioner says he wrote to Governor Sakaja on May 19, 2026, formally demanding the exercise of powers under Section 31(a) of the County Governments Act, 2012 to suspend or dismiss Kerich within 48 hours, but received no response.
"As at the date of this Certificate, no response has been received and no steps have been taken," Yongo states in the documents.
Among the orders sought is an interim conservatory order suspending Kerich from exercising all powers and duties of the Finance CEC position forthwith, pending the hearing and determination of the application.
Meanwhile, Kerich has reportedly been boasting that his connections will shield him from arrest despite the court order sentencing him to three months in prison for failing to pay more than Sh106 million to a city law firm.
The matter is pending hearing.