35 members of the Assembly supported the motion against 10 who voted against it. The fate of Governor Kibwana now lies with the Senate.
MAKUENI, Kenya, Oct 9 – The Makueni County Assembly on Thursday passed an impeachment motion against Governor Kivutha Kibwana.
35 members of the Assembly supported the motion against 10 who voted against it. The fate of Governor Kibwana now lies with the Senate.
The Makueni County Speaker is required to write to the Senate Speaker Ekwe Ethuro who will cause for the establishment of a Special Commitee to investigate the allegations against Kibwana and submit a report back to the House in 21 days on whether the allegations have been substantiated or not.
Governor Kibwana wrote on his Facebook page that he was not afraid to be impeached if the Assembly had legitimate reasons to do so.
The Wiper Democratic Movement has 22 MCAs, the majority, both nominated and elected while Kibwana’s Muungano Party – a Cord affiliate – has 12. The other 13 seats are shared by smaller parties.
The motion came hours after reconciliation meeting sanctioned by the Wiper Democratic Leader Kalonzo Musyoka and a day after another meeting by Kitui and Machakos Governors failed to bear fruit.
In a bid to counter the move by the MCAs, Governor Kibwana launched a signature collection campaign seeking to dissolve the county government.
Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka who is currently in South Africa had urged the leaders to wait until he is back in the country and until he talks with them before proceeding with both the impeachment and the signature collection saying that the standoff between Governor Kibwana’s executive arm of the county government and the assembly had affected service delivery.
The former VP said he had instructed Kitui Senator and party national chairman David Musila to “take charge of the situation and begin efforts of reconciling the leaders, a majority of who belong to Wiper”.
The Senate adjourned until October 21 to allow Senators mediate between the two in a bid to find a way forward in the negotiation process with the executive.
The genesis of the impasse was the budgetary allocation to the County Assembly where the governor accuses the MCAs of blackmailing him to give them more funds.
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