They are Mr Justice Hedwig Ong’udi (Presiding), Lady Justice Cecilia Githua and Mr Justice Boaz Olao. Wambora had filed the petition at the High Court seeking to declare his removal from office unconstitutional two weeks ago. And it emerged that the Senators, who have in the recent past been at logger heads with the countybosses, met behind closed doors where the conspiracy to kick out Wambora as a lesson to his arrogant colleagues was mooted.
And even as the events unfolded, Embu County Deputy Governor Dorothy Nditi officially took over the office of the Governor hours after her former boss was kicked out. It was Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko who let the cat out of the bag when he said Wambora’s ouster was a sign of things to come. And during the impeachment debate Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama hinted that his governor Alfred Mutua could be next on line.
The two have been at war over the running of the county, which has seen the duo not seeing eye to eye for the last one year. The voting pattern in the Wambora ouster move was also an indication of the position taken by the Senators, with 39 for Wambora’s impeachment and only one, Baringo Senator Gideon Moi, siding with Wambora.
And in an interesting turn of events Rutto said they will be moving to the Supreme Court to seek interpretation of the law over the move by the Senate to impeach Wambora. Rutto said the council has already written to the Attorney General, the Senate and the Constitutional Implementation Commission (CIC) seeking to get a clear definition of the role of senate in management of the county governments’ funds. Senators and Governors have been embroiled in supremacy contest for some time now and at one time the county bosses defied invitation to appear beforethe Senate Committee over alleged mismanagement of funds.
The Finance Committee, through the chair, Billow Kerrow, had invited the Council of Governors to appear before it to shed light on the management and utilisation of funds sent to counties. Controller of Budget, Agnes Odhiambo had named a number of counties found culpable in misuse of funds. “It will be foolhardy for anyone to think that the Senate does not have a role to play; that of oversight of public funds including those of county governments.
We will be compelled to issue fresh summons for the governors to appear before this committee,” said Kerrow then. The Billow Kerrow-led committee said failure by the council to appear before it is an act of impunity and a misguided attempt to resist accountability. “The council is a public-funded State organ and it is required to submit individual quarterly reports to the Controller of Budget who is also mandated to report to Parliament over the same.
Their failure to appear before this committee is an act of impunity and misguided attempt to resist accountability,” said Kerrow. Article 125 of the Constitution states that “either House of Parliament or any of its committees has powers to summon any person to appear before it for the purposes of giving evidence or providing information.” Meanwhile, Nditi arrived at the county headquarters at 10:30 on Saturday morning straight to the boardroom where she assured residents there will be no vacuum in leadership. “These are really trying moments for this county, as far as the impeachment of the governor is concerned.
- The People
Follow @africanewspost
