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Impeached Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza’s fate now lies with Senate
Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza when she appeared before a 11-member Senate special committee at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi last year.
Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza’s fate now lies with the Senate after the county assembly ousted her on Wednesday for the second time.
Senate Speaker Amason Kingi is expected to receive resolutions of the county assembly before close of business today, which is two days after the impeachment as stipulated in the County Government Act.
The besieged governor was impeached for the second time within 10 months.
Former Embu governor Martin Wambora holds the record as the first governor to be impeached twice, but survived the ouster bids.
According to Section 33(3) of the County Governments Act, the receipt of the notification will set in motion a seven-day period for Mr Kingi to read out the charges the county assembly has brought against the governor.
The Senate, which has been in recess, will resume its plenary sittings on Tuesday and the Speaker is expected to make the communication within the week.
Thereafter, the Senate’s consideration of the impeachment shall commence, as per the Standing Orders and Section 33 of the County Governments Act.
The Senate may appoint a special committee comprising 11 members to look into the grounds of impeachment within seven days from the day the Senate Speaker received the notice of the resolution to impeach the governor.
However, Governor Mwangaza will continue performing the functions of her office pending the outcome of the impeachment.
If the Senate chooses the committee route, the 11-member committee will then investigate the matter and report to the Senate within 10 days whether the charges have been substantiated or not.
The governor will be required to appear before the committee to answer to the charges levelled against her.
However, if the Senate decides to do it as a committee of the whole House, she will be tried all the senators.
If the Senate committee finds the claims are unsubstantiated, that will be the end of the proceedings.
But if the special committee finds proof, the Senate proceeds to vote on the impeachment charges.
If a majority of the county delegations in the Senate vote to uphold the impeachment charge, the governor ceases to hold office.
On the other hand, if the delegations vote to reject the impeachment charge, the Senate Speaker would notify the Speaker of the county assembly.
However, if impeached by the Senate, the governor has an opportunity to appeal the resolutions in a court of law.
“Even if this assembly is able to link any count to the governor, are all offences impeachable? This motion does not meet the threshold for the impeachment of a governor,” the governor’s lawyer Elias Mutuma said.
But having survived impeachment at the Senate last year, the governor, who is now a second time ‘offender’, has an uphill task to convince senators to clear her again.
On Wednesday, Ms Mwangaza’s lawyer Danstan Omari said they are ready to defend the governor even in the courts, citing the assembly for breaching the impeachment process.
He cited sub judice, defective public participation process and failure to serve the governor with the public participation report.
“You have a very good case against the governor yet you want to watch it thrown out on technicalities,” Mr Omari said.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said he predicted Ms Mwangaza will be brought back to the Senate, citing her ‘behavior and attitude’.
“When Senate let her off last time, I predicted she would be brought back. For sanity of Meru County, it is high time she takes a back seat,” he said.
