MCAs accused governor of tender manipulation, abuse of office
The County Assembly of Kiambu impeached Governor Ferdinand Waititu over allegations that he siphoned Sh580 million from the county coffers through dubious tenders.
Waititu, who is battling a court case where he and his wife Susan Wangari have been charged with theft of Sh588 million, was voted out by 63 of the county’s 92 MCAs.
In one of the grievances highlighted in the motion, Waititu was accused of awarding Sh2.1 billion road tarmacking tender and a Sh1.4 billion for utilities in the 2017/18 financial year to facilitate personal gains.
In his motion, Ndenderu Ward MCA Solomon Kinuthia said due to lack of the governor’s accountability in the management of county resources, he had plunged the county government into unsustainable debts amounting to Sh4 billion.
Waititu is also accused of incurring a wage bill above the acceptable threshold of 35 per cent, whereby the wages and benefits in 2017/18 financial year was Sh5.9 billion while the revenue collected during the period was Sh12.5 billion.
Further, Kinuthia accused the politician of undermining the County Assembly’s legislation, oversight and presentation roles through non-remittance of requisitioned funds.
Irregular procurement
The governor, he claimed in the motion, diverted funds intended for the assembly projects in the 2018/19 financial year to areas where he would have obtained personal benefits through irregular procurement.
A recent ruling by Commission on Administrative Justice to reinstate titles deeds, which Waititu was accused of acquiring as a condition to approve building plans, has come to haunt him after it was listed among the grounds for his removal under “crimes under the national law”.
Waititu acknowledged demanding and transferring two Sh100 million-worth properties belonging to Cecilia Mbugua in Thika, who had sought building approvals from his administration, and registered them to Esther Nyatu.
