Mike Sonko’s daughter, Saumu Mbuvi, has blocked her dad’s calls. Sonko revealed his daughter blocked his calls after he publicly revealed Saumu’s battle with mental illness.
The former Nairobi governor, who recently sparked widespread online reaction after revealing his daughter’s battles with mental health during the burial of former journalist Kimani Mbugua, said he is often misjudged for his deeds.
“The statement was taken out of context. Whatever, I said I meant it with good intent. It was, however, blown out of proportion, which caused my daughter to eventually block my contact on her phone,” said the outspoken politician.
“As a parent, I am in no position to pick fights with my children or family for that matter. I aspire to maintain the role model figure I have always been to them,” he went on.
Sonko urged parents not to shy away from going public about their struggles.
“It is true my daughter was going through a condition, and we had to have it in check, so I sought help from a mental health institution,” he said.
According to Sonko, he had no ill intentions. By opening up, he simply wanted to show that mental issues have no boundaries and that the problem can be put under control.
“Any time I visited my daughter, I did not take shopping for her alone but for all other patients in the facility,” stated the flamboyant politician known for his philanthropy.
Sonko encouraged mourners attending Kimani’s burial not to shy away from going public or seeking help in case their relatives or friends face mental health challenges.
“We also suffer in silence. I have my apologies, but the aim behind it was to show Kimani Mbugua, Conjestina Achieng, and others that this disease of bipolar and mental illness comes from God; my own daughter, Saumu Mbuvi, is suffering from the same condition,” he said.
Sonko acknowledged that his statement may have been far-fetched, resulting to the daughter’s reaction, but maintained that there is no love lost between them, noting:
“She is a grown-up, a parent, but she remains my beloved daughter, and I respect her.”
After a day of intense online discussion sparked by her father’s public revelation about her mental health struggles, Saumu broke her silence, choosing vulnerability over silence and stigma.
In a social media post, Saumu addressed the scrutiny and speculation that followed her father’s admission that his daughter battles bipolar disorder.
Sonko’s revelation came following a recent interview, in which he shared that Saumu had once sought treatment at Mama Amina Rehabilitation Centre in Mombasa, alongside the late Kimani and Conjestina.
“The rich also cry; we also suffer in silence,” Sonko said, adding that he deliberately chose a local facility instead of seeking treatment abroad.
“It is not that I didn’t have money to treat my daughter in the US or London; mimi napenda kulia na maskini sana… I took my own daughter kwa Mama Amina akatibiwa pamoja na Kimani na Conjestina.”
While the revelation was meant to highlight the universality of mental illness, it also thrust Saumu into the public eye, reigniting conversations about privacy, stigma, and mental health awareness in Kenya.
Now, Saumu has spoken up in her own words, not to defend herself, but to reclaim her narrative.
“Lately, so much has been said about me, things that cut deeply, especially because they came from people I love. I have been called names, judged, and misunderstood by many who never stopped to ask what I was truly going through,” she wrote.
“Yes, I have battled bipolar disorder, a condition that has tested me in ways words can hardly explain. But what I have never battled is drug addiction. I was never in rehab for that,” she added.
Saumu clarified that her visits to rehabilitation centres were not due to drug abuse but part of her mental health journey: seeking help to “find herself again.”
“It hurts to be shamed for trying to heal. It hurts even more when that shame comes from your own blood,” she wrote, adding that pain has taught her resilience. “Pain can be sacred; it awakens strength you didn’t know you had.”
Her post, raw and reflective, struck a chord across social media, with fans and mental health advocates praising her courage to speak out in a society that often stigmatises such conversations.
Saumu’s message was also one of hope and self-compassion.
“To anyone who has ever been mocked for their mental health journey or judged for needing help: please know, you are not broken. You are human. You are worthy of understanding and love. I may be bruised, but I am not destroyed,” she posted.
The 29-year-old entrepreneur and mother of two concluded her statement with a note of faith: “My story isn’t one of shame. It’s one of survival, courage, and faith. And I know that with time, God will turn even this pain into purpose. It’s okay not to be okay.”
Stemming from real-life experience at home, Sonko has always extended help to others in need.
Several indigent mothers with newborns at Mama Lucy Hospital, as well as their relatives, were overwhelmed with joy recently after they got a reprieve when Sonko cleared their medical bills.
The 110 new mothers had earlier been discharged after delivery but were left stranded for weeks at the facility due to a lack of funds to settle their bills.
Multiple young mothers, some of whom delivered their babies through caesarean section, were held back by the hospital management for their inability to pay.
“Some had been held in for weeks after their discharge from the hospital since not even their families could foot their hospital expenses,” said a source from the hospital.
Speaking to The Nairobian, Sonko said he had been touched by an appeal by the mothers to well-wishers to chip in and support in clearing their accruing bills.
“I had taken three days monitoring the situation at the hospital before I took action,” he said. Earlier on his social pages, the former county boss shared a video as he sneaked into the facility to the maternity wing undetected.
“I walked into the hospital in the wee hours of the morning and got into the wards and nursery, which had several unattended mothers with their newborns, with no doctors or nurses on site. Security had also been compromised, as all the guards were fast asleep when I entered with my team. As a result, we sadly lost four infants due to medical negligence,” he noted.
One of the patients, Mary Wambui, was full of praise when told that her bill had been paid. Wambui, who had been discharged a fortnight earlier, had no money to pay the hospital. She said it was only God who could have done it to a poor single mother like her. Several others lauded the gesture, with nurses in the hospital saying it was long overdue.
“Most ladies here, some in their teens, had spent more time than necessary. The freed mothers expressed delight at the act of philanthropy. What we have witnessed today is a great surprise,” said Wambui.
Sonko further hired 12 ambulances to ferry the women to their homes, besides giving them cash tokens each, and promised to help them enrol in the SHA health scheme.
“The former governor has done well in uplifting the poor, the needy, and residents of Nairobi,” Nancy Nduta, who had been stuck in the hospital for a month, said.
Distancing himself from any political hunt, Sonko maintained he acted out of goodwill.
“My detractors are quick to say that it was an act of seeking mileage, but the sight of mothers who had been operated on sharing a small bed is cringeworthy. What we need are permanent solutions to the health crisis. I have done this since I was a Member of Parliament and the county boss,” he said.
Sonko blamed diversionary tactics in politics as the reason why some of the beneficial projects he had initiated as governor had stalled after he left.
He cited a 100-bed capacity maternity ward, which he claimed had been abandoned, yet it could have eased congestion in hospital wards.
Sonko said he had acquired funds to improve the health crisis being experienced in the county during his tenure.