Wednesday, August 21, 2024 - Impeached Meru County Governor Kawira Mwangaza has received a reprieve after the High Court suspended the Senate's decision to remove her from office permanently.
Justice Bahati Mwamuye also restrained Senate Speaker Amason Kingi from publishing a notice of vacancy for the office of the Governor of Meru County in the Kenya Gazette.
Senators voted to remove her from office based on three charges on which she was found guilty, making her the third governor to be impeached after Kiambu’s Ferdinand Waititu and Nairobi’s Mike Sonko in 2020.
“The senators, having voted to
uphold the charges against the Meru governor, Governor Kawira Mwangaza ceases
to hold office,” ruled Speaker Amason Kingi in a vote that went past midnight.
According to Section 33(7) of the
County Government Act, a governor ceases to hold office if a majority of the
Senate members uphold any of the impeachment charges.
On the first charge—a gross
violation of the Constitution and other laws—the Senate found Mwangaza guilty,
with 26 senators voting in support, 4 against, and 14 abstaining.
Among the accusations was her
illegal revocation of Virginia Kawira Miriti’s appointment as Secretary/CEO of
the Meru County Public Service Board, which lacked the required 75% majority
vote from the County Assembly.
On the second charge of gross
misconduct, 26 senators found her guilty, while 4 voted against the charge.
Fourteen senators abstained from voting.
Governor Mwangaza was accused of deliberately misleading the public by falsely claiming that Sh86 million had been raised through a Paybill number established after the murder of Daniel Muthiani alias Sniper.
The actual amount raised was Sh286,516.
On the third charge of abuse of
office, 27 senators voted in support of the impeachment, one senator opposed,
and 14 abstained.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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