Bring it on Obado dares Raila on impeachment
Embattled Migori Governor Okoth Obado yesterday came out guns blazing and dared Opposition leader Raila Odinga and his troops to table the impeachment motion against him.
Obado, a battle-hardened teacher turned politician, issued the warning even as Raila met MPs from the county in Nairobi and supported the party’s decision to impeach the governor.
“I have nothing absolutely to fear,” Obado said in a television interview, setting the stage for what appears to be a bruising battle for the control of the county government in the coming days.
In the interview, Obado accused the Orange party and its top brass of engaging in endless schemes to eject him from office.
As he spoke, Raila was holed up in a crisis meeting with elected leaders from the county and senior party officials to discuss the impeachment motion.
Raila’s meeting came against murmurs that a section of the ODM MCAs had vowed to reject the motion on grounds that it has been imposed on them.
In the meeting, Raila is understood to have given the MCAs, through the party’s top officials, the go ahead to proceed with the motion, expected to be tabled in the county assembly anytime this week.
Special meeting
Raila convened the special meeting in his Nairobi’s Capitol Hill office as the Migori County Assembly MCAs officially resumed their sittings after a one-month recess to kick start the impeachment process.
Even though Raila did not publicly announce his stand, ODM national chairman John Mbadi confirmed that the impeachment motion had his full blessings.
Mbadi said: “Raila is the party leader of ODM, which has resolved that the Governor should be impeached following corruption allegations.
Do you think I as the chairman can stand before the public and announce something that my boss does not support? He is our leader and we must consult him before we do anything.”
Mbadi further said all the party MCAs had been whipped to support the motion, failure to which disciplinary action will be taken against them.
“Any MCA who will go against the decision of the party will have written his political obituary,” Mbadi warned.
Obado, however, got rare support from a cross section of leaders in Luo Nyanza led by former Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo who called on Mbadi to go slow on the matter and let the court decide the fate of the governor.
“The law states that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That is why President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto were elected despite having cases at The Hague.
The impeachment plot targeting Obado is a good idea but it is clashing with the court proceedings hence amounting to contempt of court,” said Midiwo.
Former Nyatike MP Edick Anyanga on his part stated; “ODM should respect Governor Obado who is the senior most politician in our county.
We are not happy with the party’s decision and the manner in which our governor is being mistreated”.
Former Rongo MP Dalmas Otieno also echoed Anyanga’s sentiments saying “the party should let him finish his term in peace and deliver for the people of Migori instead of creating unnecessary tension”.
