Meru Political Crisis: Fifth Impeachment Motion Against Governor Kawira Mwangaza Tabled
Political tensions in Meru have escalated into a repetitive cycle of conflict after a county assembly member introduced the fifth impeachment motion against Governor Kawira Mwangaza, just a day after retracting the fourth one.
Nominated MCA Zipporah Kinya presented a new impeachment motion on Wednesday afternoon, initiating another attempt to oust Ms. Mwangaza, two days after the governor received a reprieve from the courts.
The Deputy Majority Leader in the Assembly withdrew her earlier motion to impeach Ms. Mwangaza on Tuesday, seemingly as a strategic move to circumvent legal obstacles.
In the latest motion, Ms. Kinya seeks to remove the Meru governor from office for gross constitutional violations, gross misconduct, and abuse of office.
Ms. Kinya argues, “The governor’s continued stay in office has consistently undermined effective and efficient service delivery, severely harming the interests of the county’s residents.”
After the motion was introduced, Governor Mwangaza took to her official Facebook page, expressing her confidence in prevailing once again.
“Dead on inception…” Ms. Mwangaza stated.
Governor Mwangaza’s lawyer, Elias Mutuma, cautioned the assembly against introducing a new motion, claiming it would be in contempt of court.
However, the county assembly’s lawyer, Ndegwa Njiru, argued that no orders were preventing the introduction of a new impeachment motion.
The new motion omits some of the charges from the suspended motion, such as the illegal dismissal of a legal adviser and hiring a county lawyer without assembly approval.
The MCA accuses the governor of illegally revoking the appointment of the County Public Service Board Secretary Virginia Kagwiria, failing to appoint various autonomous board chairpersons, and not implementing county assembly resolutions.
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Other accusations include the illegal dismissal of several board executives and misleading the public by falsely claiming that MCAs had raised Sh86 million for the family of the late blogger Bernard Muthiani, also known as Sniper.
The Meru governor is also under scrutiny for irregularly paying Sh74.3 million in emergency call allowances to doctors, employing 111 personal staff leading to a Sh500 million wage bill, and disbursing around Sh103 million in salaries through a manual payroll.
She is also accused of paying a full salary to Christus Manyara, a public relations officer charged with murder, contrary to the Public Service Commission’s disciplinary manual.
Ms. Kinya withdrew the fourth impeachment motion on Tuesday, citing the failure of the High Court-ordered alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
In a surprising turn, Njuri Ncheke, appointed to resolve the dispute, rejected an amicus curiae application filed by its secretary-general, Operations Josphat Murangiri.
Judge Linus Kassan had referred the matter to an alternative tribunal until August 20, 2024, when he was scheduled to decide whether to continue with the impeachment process.
Ms. Kinya stated, “Since the Njuri Ncheke elders have recused themselves from the court-assigned task, I have decided to withdraw this motion. We cannot wait until August 20 while Meru residents suffer and public resources are mismanaged.”
The MCAs expressed their dissatisfaction with the court’s ruling, arguing it had interfered with the legislative process.
Meru Political Crisis: Fifth Impeachment Motion Against Governor Kawira Mwangaza Tabled
