NAIROBI, Kenya June 23 – Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has told the Senate that her impeachment by County Assembly members is baseless and was driven by malice.
She told an 11-member Senate team led by Cleophas Malala of Kakamega that her impeachment is unfounded and only aimed at embarrassing her.
“Unfortunately what is before you is in every respect false, unfounded and salacious allegations, which have no place in an impeachment motion,” she said, “The grounds contained in the allegations are obvious falsities, unfounded and malicious. They relate to minor administrative issues that would easily have been clarified by a routine inquiry.”
She said the issues relied on by the Senators are administrative issues which could have been solved at the county level.
The Senate team is investigating the veracity of the allegations raised by the MCAs in their impeachment motion, and are expected to file a report by Friday.
Among other charges, Waiguru is accused of abuse of office and conferring a benefit of Sh10.6 million to herself, when she paid travel allowance on a foreign trip the MCAs said she did not make.
But when in her personal statement to the committee, Waiguru said she was suprised by the charge because she even has pictures with some of the MCAs when they were in the US.
Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru, for the County Assembly, pleaded with the Committee to deliver justice to the people of Kirinyaga.
“The question of corruption and mismanagement of the public resources is a complex one. We shall be calling witnesses to show and demonstrate to this country who are the owners of the monies that the county assembly is arising to defend and that governor Waiguru’s hands were in the cookie jar,” Njiru said.
She is also accused of purchasing herself an official car worth Sh15 million, despite the existence of a governor’s car that was used by her predecessor.
Waiguru’s lawyers led by her husband Kamotho Waiganjo, Paul Nyamondi and Andrew Karani accused the county assembly of raising issues with no evidence and challenged it to prove that the county boss did not indeed travel.
They called on the committee not to allow the MCAs to produce any additional evidence that was not part of the impeachment motion.
Specifically, the county wanted to present four witness statements which Nyamondi termed as new evidence.
The request to strike off the statements was however, granted by Malala.
“It is the assembly that framed the charges against the governor. It is the assembly in its wisdom that chose to frame the charge that the Governor had not travelled. What evidence did they have to show that she did not travel? The governor’s responses here cannot then become evidence for the assembly,” Nyamondi said.
On Wednesday Waiguru will take the stand to defend herself against the allegations that led to her impeachment.
The committee will then retreat to write its report after scrutinizing the submissions presented before it by both parties.
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