Members of County Assembly (MCAs) vows to impeach Embu Governor Martin Wambora again

By JOSEPH MUCHIRI

Embu Governor Martin Wambora is counting on dialogue to appease Members of County Assembly (MCAs) who have vowed to impeach him days after a court reinstated him.

On Thursday, Mr Wambora told The Standard on Saturday that he has planned a series of meetings with local leaders to seek reconciliation and unity.

He said he had already made contact with the team leaders of all the MCAs and dialogue had kicked off.

Wambora has vowed to end the row between the executive and legislative arms of the county and move ahead with the development projects envisaged for 2013-2017.

 “We are moving in the direction of reconciliation and we won’t let our differences escalate further. People are tired of these fights and would want the county to get back on its feet soonest,” Wambora said.

But the MCAs vowed to impeach the Governor soon after a court reinstated him on Wednesday.

Judges Hedwig Ong’udi, Boaz Olao and Cecilia Githua found that Wambora’s impeachment was illegal, null and void as the County Assembly and Senate ignored court orders.

Wambora said all elected leaders should realise they are employees of the people and will not fulfill their promises unless they embrace unity of purpose.

 He disclosed that they had resolved all issues with his deputy Dorothy Nditi that arose during the period he was away and would work together without any ill-feeling.

 “There is no room for more conflict. We will engage even with all the MPs, the senator and staff working in the executive so that we can put the county fast and proceed to improve the lives of the people,” he said.

However, the Governor can rest easy because of the constitutional requirement that he can only be impeached after the elapse of three months.

Earlier, Wambora’s lawyer David Njoroge downplayed the MCAs threat to impeach Wambora, and a motion of their intention.

Speaking to The Standard on Saturday on phone, Mr Njoroge said the Constitution is clear that the three months period starts from the time the ruling was made and not from the time the Senate ratified the impeachment on February 14 as the MCAs may have believed.

Threat

 “We are treating the MCAs vow as a threat at the moment. The law is clear they cannot proceed with such a motion. They should obey the law or else their attempt will fail,” he said.

There are also concerns whether MCAs will accuse Wambora of the same things allegations they made in January. Following the ruling, the 22 MCAs vowed to follow procedures to remove him again.

However, a section of the leaders came out to distance themselves from the threat, and Wambora could be banking on their support to survive.

 Eight MCAs who spoke to the Press at Country View Hotel and called on their colleagues to tone down their pursuits and give Wambora a chance to develop the county said the relentless politicking and bickering was not doing any good.

Kagaari South MCA Robert Ireri who spoke on the leaders behalf claimed that the notice of motion was signed only by 15MCAs out of 22 present.

This raises questions if the other seven MCAs are already tired with this unending duel as development takes a back-burner.

MCAs Albert Kigoro, Salesio Kimaru, Nancy Muriithi, Rose Muturi, Susan Ndwiga, Rose Gataara and John Mwangi who were present expressed concern that the county might be taken over by the national government if it fails to perform.

The Governor was forced out of office in a precedent-setting vote, despite pleading innocent to the procurement irregularities charges facing him.

Wambora was only in office for ten months following recommendations of the Senate special committee that investigated and found him guilty of three of the five charges preferred against him.

He became the first public officer to be removed through impeachment.