NAIROBI Kenya Aug 30 – Kericho Governor Erick Mutai has survived impeachment for the second time in a year.
This is after 25 out 42 Senators vote to determine that the threshold had not been met.
Speaker Amason Kingi terminated the impeachment proceedings after the vote saying that if the threshold was not achieved at the County Assembly, the Senate had no business conducting the trial.
During the vote held on August 29, one senator abstained, while 16 felt the threshold had been met.
During the trial which began on August 27, Governor Mutai legal team raised a preliminary objection arguing that the initial 32 threshold required for the impeachment at the county assembly level had not been achieved.
The issue of the process of voting and who actually voted was contentious that the House failed to delve into substantive matters leading to the impeachment at the County Assembly.
The MCAs had filed three charges against the Governor: Violations of the Constitution and other laws, abuse of office and gross misconduct.
The Governor’s side called nearly 20 witnesses, including 18 MCAs, including an IT expert to defend him.The County Assembly summoned six witnesses.
The Senate resorted to an independent expert from the ICT Authority. However, none of these expert witnesses cleared the doubts on who actually voted and whether the threshold was achieved
