Ward reps impeach Governor Samboja, cite gross misconduct

Taita Taveta County Assembly Speaker Meshack Maghanga during a motion to impeach Taita Taveta County Governor Granton Samboja on October 9, 2019. PHOTO | LUCY MKANYIKA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The governor was accused of gross violation of the law. Mr Keke said the governor’s gross misconduct — misappropriation of funds and failure to assent to the 2019/2020 budget — had led to underdevelopment in the county.

  • He said the governor mislead residents by collecting signatures in a bid to dissolve the county government over a budget stalemate.

Taita-Taveta Governor Granton Samboja has been impeached.

Wednesday, all the 30 MCAs present in the assembly voted in favour of an impeachment motion sponsored by Deputy Majority Leader Harris Keke.

The governor was accused of gross violation of the law. Mr Keke said the governor’s gross misconduct — misappropriation of funds and failure to assent to the 2019/2020 budget — had led to underdevelopment in the county.

He said the governor misled residents by collecting signatures in a bid to dissolve the county government over a budget stalemate.

Mr Keke said the governor claimed that the budget stand-off was caused by the MCAs, after they allocated themselves over Sh830 million to their ward kitty.

“The county assembly has continually implemented projects that were not budgeted for, leaving those with allocations unpaid for even after contractors completed their works.”

“The purported petition stated that we had inflated the budget, yet it was untrue. The stated grounds for dissolution are not sufficient,” he added.

The governor was also accused of failing to submit annual reports to the assembly as required by law. The Rong'e MCA said the governor’s behaviour has led to lack of accountability and denied the assembly an opportunity to carry out their oversight role.

“This has affected service delivery and implementation of some key projects,” he said.

Contacted for comment, Mr Samboja, through his Communication Director Dennis Onsarigo, said he was not aware of the impeachment, terming it a joke given that he hadn’t been duly notified as required.

“We haven’t seen the motion and the constitutional provision is very clear on how an impeachment should be done. They have not followed it. As it is, we are just hearing of it from the media. We have given dialogue a chance but it is clear the MCAs had a hidden card. It shows they have never been genuine from the start about their intentions,” he said.