High Court orders Charles Kerich to surrender for three-month jail term

Suspended Nairobi County Finance Executive Charles Kerich has been ordered to surrender within three days to begin serving a three-month jail sentence after the High Court declined to suspend his punishment for contempt of court.

The ruling means Kerich must report to the relevant authorities for committal to Industrial Area Prison as the court considers fresh applications filed by his legal team.

In the ruling, delivered on Tuesday, Justice Lawrence Mugambi directed Kerich to surrender within the period set by the court and warned that if he fails to do so, police should arrest him immediately and treat him as a fugitive from justice.

Kerich's lawyers had urged the court to suspend the jail term pending the hearing of new applications. They argued that he had remained available to the court at all times, had not absconded, and was no longer serving as the substantive Nairobi County Executive Committee Member for Finance after leaving office on June 5, 2026.

The defence also told the court that it had filed an application seeking to purge the contempt findings and asked the court to consider it before enforcing the sentence.

However, Justice Mugambi ruled that the first issue before the court was to regularise the applications filed by Kerich's new legal team before considering any other arguments. He noted that the court was fully familiar with the matter, having handled the case from the beginning.

Despite the pending applications, the judge declined to suspend the custodial sentence, meaning Kerich must begin serving the three-month jail term unless the court rules otherwise.

The fresh applications are scheduled to be heard on July 29, 2026.

The contempt case arose after Kerich failed to comply with earlier court orders, leading to his conviction and the three-month custodial sentence.