While the County Assembly Speaker Onyango Oloo (right) insists Nerry Achar (right) who was impeached over gross misconduct cannot append his signature on the document, the defiant executive has maintained he is still in charge of the County Treasury/FILE
KISUMU, Kenya, Aug 24 – A standoff between the Kisumu County Executive and MCAs over the impeachment of County Executive Committee (CEC) Member for Finance Nerry Achar is threatening to further delay the adoption of the county’s Sh10 billion 2019/20 budget, with the County Assembly vowing to reject the document should Achar append his signature on it.
While the County Assembly insists Achar who was impeached over gross misconduct cannot append his signature on the document, the defiant executive has maintained he is still in charge of the County Treasury.
The Assembly has already submitted the document to Governor Anyang Nyong’o who in return is expected to authenticate the document or return it with amendments.
County Assembly Speaker Onyango Oloo said if the document is given a green line by the Governor then he is expected to append his signature and that of the CEC Member for Finance for onward submission back to the Assembly.
“The CEC for finance must append his hand into the document before the Speaker of the Assembly also appends his hands to enable it proceed to the next level which is the treasury and Controller of Budget for it to be effected,” he said.
Oloo however maintained that Achar remains impeached and should not purport to hold the finance docket.
On the other hand, Achar hangs on a court order he obtained from the Employment Court barring the Assembly from proceeding with the process to impeach him.
Achar was impeached on August 13 after an order he obtained barring the County Assembly from discussing his conduct lapsed.
37 Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) voted to impeach him against 3 who opposed the censure motion.
“Nerry Achar has been impeached by Kisumu County Assembly, his name does not appear anywhere in the official documents of the County Assembly, he cannot sign any document or forward any document to the County Assembly, he cannot be recognized by the County Assembly,” Oloo said.
Oloo said the Assembly Standing Orders are clear on impeaching a CEC Member and told Governor Nyong’o that he has no option but to let Achar go and appoint a substantive CEC Member subject to approval by the Assembly.
Kolwa East MCA Steve Owiti who brought the impeachment motion of CEC finance says the issue of Achar should not slow down the development of Kisumu County.
Owiti warned Speaker Oloo that should he admit receiving a budget document signed by the impeached CEC Member then he will face impeachment when the House resumes next month.
“If the Speaker decides to admit the signature of Achar and we found out, then Speaker will also face the law, we will impeach him,” he said.
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