Colleagues defend impeached Mwangaza, call for law change
Governors want the Senate to enact a law that will define the threshold and time frame within which a governor can be impeached after elections.
They made the proposal while defending their Meru colleague Kawira Mwangaza whose impeachment process is now before Senate.
Senate Speaker Amason Kingi had gazetted Tuesday afternoon as a Special sitting to hear the accusations levelled against the Governor.
Mwangaza was impeached by the County Assembly last week.
Led by Council of Governors vice chair Ahmed Abdullahi, the county chiefs argued that while there is a law stating when a Member of Parliament can be recalled, there is no law on when a governor should be impeached.
“There is no logic in impeaching a governor who has been in office for only four months. We should have a timeframe and some standards of the threshold of impeachment,” said Abdullahi.
Gross violation
The governors are now calling upon the Senate and the National Assembly to pass legislation to provide a definite timeframe within which Members of the County Assembly can initiate an impeachment process.
In addition, the county chiefs opined that “gross violation” of the Constitution is vague is prone to abuse and should be clearly defined as a threshold for removal from office.
The governors said impeachment should be instituted after at least two and a half years of being in office.
“We urge the Senate to consider enacting legislation that will regulate the relationship between the County Assemblies and the Executive,” said Abdullahi.
Senators will this afternoon decide whether they will prosecute Mwangaza’s case through a special committee or in plenary in line with section 33 of the County Governments Act.
Last week, 67 of the 68 MCAs in Meru voted to impeach the governor citing nepotism, illegal appointments, unlawful dismissals, incitement, bullying, misleading campaigns against other leaders and misconduct.
Kawira, an independent candidate was sworn in as the third Meru governor on August 26 following her surprise victory in the August 9 General Election.
She floored seasoned politicians including Kiraitu Murungi and the then-senator Mithika Linturi (now Agriculture Cabinet Secretary).
