After Jackson Ward 2 Councilwoman Angelique Lee was brought down for bribery earlier this week, one of her peers on the council isn’t holding back on who he thinks will be next to face federal charges.
Kenneth Stokes, a council member in Mississippi’s capital city for over three decades, said Friday morning that from what he’s hearing, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and Councilman Aaron Banks will be the next to face charges in the FBI case.
“We can go with rumor,” Stokes said on Mary Wieden & You. “Rumor has it that it’s going to be the DA, Jody Owens. Rumor has it that’s going to be the mayor, and rumor has it that it might be Councilman Aaron Banks.”
Accusations of bribery have flown around Jackson for years, most recently with Lumumba alleging councilmembers took bribes to steer the bid for a municipal sanitation contract in 2022. Stokes, along with Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote, was called out by name in the mayor’s accusations two years ago. In response, Stokes publicly invited the FBI to investigate city hall and still believes some of the corruption being investigated now dates to that specific contract.
“Some of this stems back to a sanitation contract where the low bidder didn’t get the bid and certain people steered the bid to make sure friends got the contract,” Stokes said, reaffirming that he and Foote were not the ones to accept bribes over the trash contract. “Do you allow them to walk away with the money they received illegally? Or do you make sure you send a message that we’re not going to tolerate this nonsense?”
Expanding on the rumored prosecutions to come, Stokes said he believes Lee was a “small fish” that got caught up in a larger scheme – possibly feeling comfortable taking bribes because she had seen other officials “get away with it.” The veteran councilman pointed to fundamental problems, such as crumbling infrastructure and record crime, suggesting those issues cannot be fixed when city and county officials are falling into the depths of corruption.
“We got money walking away,” Stokes said. “Money does not have feet. You cannot allow thievery in government – at any level. You cannot tolerate thievery.”
Beyond detailing rumors he’s heard regarding the federal investigation, Stokes did not hesitate to point a finger directly at Lumumba, going as far as to say that the mayor has been the catalyst of corruption in the capital city. He alleged that part of the problem is the mayor controls the council’s agenda but gets no blame when things go wrong since he doesn’t have a vote at meetings.
“That’s the con in this whole thing. The mayor put this illegal activity in progress and process, yet he don’t vote,” Stokes said.
The Ward 3 councilman added further indictments could be handed down as soon as Friday with the entire process likely unfolding over the next 90 days.
