Former nominated Senator Joy Gwendo was on Friday sentenced to a two-year jail term for failing to honour a plea bargain she entered with the state to pay Kshs1.7 Million.
Ms Gwendo was apprehended in January by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives over stealing and issuing a cheque of Ksh2.2 million that bounced, belonging to Kisumu East Cotton Growers Cooperative Society between October and December 2016.
In August, Gwendo pleaded guilty to abuse of office charges and theft of Kshh2.2 million.
It was reported that she entered a plea bargain with DPP Noordin Haji to pay the full amount of money amounting to Ksh3 million in four installments, but seemingly she has been unable to raise the amount.
She was handed the sentence without an option of paying a fine. Joy had earlier pleaded guilty to abuse of office charges after a plea bargaining agreement with DPP Noordin Haji.
The former lawmaker had agreed to pay the Kisumu East Cotton Growers Cooperative Sacco Kshs1.7 Million. Gwendo had been accused of issuing bad cheques to Kisumu East Cotton Growers Cooperative Society before entering into a plea bargain with the DPP.
In January 2018, Gwendo was arrested by officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) after the DPP gave consent to a charge of stealing, issuing a bad cheque and abuse of office.
Gwendo, who was also facing four other charges among them abuse of office, is accused that on October 23, 2016, at Chiga Parish in Kisumu East, she used her position as a state officer to award herself property worth Ksh2.2million of the cooperative society through Kivuli Development Initiatives account.
She was also facing two other counts of issuing bad cheques to Kisumu East Cotton Growers Cooperative Society. Gwendo was alleged to have issued two cheques amounting to Ksh1.2 Million to the society on December 5, 2016, knowing that her account had insufficient funds. She was further accused of forging a cheque of Ksh200,000.
The court found her dishonest, and ordered that she be jailed without the option of a fine because of ‘hoodwinking the court.’
“On the 23rd day of October 2016 at Chiga Parish in Kisumu East within Kisumu County used her position as a State officer to confer herself Ksh2,226,800 the property of Kisumu East Cotton Growers Cooperative Society through Kivali Development Initiative,” the charge sheet reads.
She was also denied the right of appeal with the court saying it had considered the mitigation.
“It is noteworthy that she executed a plea bargaining agreement yet she was sure that she could not honour the same. She was hoodwinking the court and therefore lied to the court,” the judge ruled.