Kingi bars Osoro from appearing for Kisii Deputy Governor in impeachment motion

Senate Speaker Amason Kingi has directed National Assembly Majority Chief Whip Silvanus Osoro to cease from serving as part of the legal team for Kisii Deputy Governor Robert Monda who is facing impeachment before the senate.

The directive was necessitated after Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei and Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale sought the interpretation of the Speaker after Osoro's appearance as one of the advocates for the embattled Deputy Governor raised eyebrows among Senators.

"It does not promote the purposes, values and principles of the Constitution nor contribute to good governance for the Legislature to put itself in the place where one part of the legislature serves as a judge in matters relating to integrity in public affairs and members of the other part of the same Legislature act as advocates for State officials party to the matter," said Kingi.

The Speaker said that according to Article 75(1) of the constitution, a State officer is required to behave, whether in public life, in private life, or in association with other persons, in a manner that avoids any conflict between personal interest and public duties, compromising any public or official interest in favour of a personal interest or demeaning the office that the officer holds.

He said that roles of legislation, representation and oversight belong to Parliament and it will not be correct to say that the mandates of the Senate and the National Assembly are so distinct that the affairs of county governments and county officials would fall entirely outside the jurisdiction and oversight of the National Assembly so as to remove an MP from any possible connection with the oversight of county officials.

"The attention of the Senate has been drawn and can properly take judicial notice of the fact that Silvanus Osoro is a Member of Parliament representing a constituency in Kisii County and a leader both in the county and the national level, holding a senior leadership position in the Parliament of Kenya," said Kingi.

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei and Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale said that Osoro appearing before the Senate as the advocate for Monda while serving as a state office may create a conflict of interest seeking to have the Speaker give directions on the matter.

Cherargei argued that the Senate should not be used as a playground for local Kisii politics since it was in public knowledge that Osoro and Kisii Governor Simba Arati heard some public altercations and the National Assembly Majority Whip should stick to his position to safeguard the government interest.

"We may lose some bills in the National Assembly because the Chief Whip Silvanus Osoro is here to serve some personal interests, he should go back to the house to serve the interests of Kenya Kwanza Alliance instead of representing the Kisii Deputy Governor in this impeachment," said Cherargei.

Khalwale said that the presence of Osoro on Monda's side would be tantamount to a Judge moving to be an advocate in a matter before his court and that the Speaker needs to pronounce himself on the matter to set some precedence when a similar scenario presents itself in future.

Kigen argued that there was nothing wrong for Osoro representing Monda in the impeachment proceeding just like other Members of Parliament appear in court matters asking the Speaker to allow him exercise his role as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

Monda who was present in the house and appeared calm pleaded not guilty to the charges of gross violation of the constitution, abuse of office, gross misconduct and crimes under national law and could be seen from time conversing animatedly with his advocates Osoro and Kigen.

The Deputy Governor is accused of having improperly used his office to confer a benefit to himself when he solicited Sh 800,000 from one Dennis Mokaya and his family in the pretext to secure him a job for the post of a commercial Manager of Gusii Water and Sanitation Company(GWASCO).

He is accused of attempting to influence the award of a contract of employment to Mokaya by sending Sh 100,000 to the Managing Director GWASCO Lucy Wahito in order to influence the employment with the request not acceded to with the money returned via mpesa to the Deputy Governor.

The Deputy Governor is also faulted for misusing Kisii County Enforcement Officers for personal benefit by deploying a contingency of 20 county officers to arrest his brother Reuben Monda for cutting down trees the brother had planted and used his powers to have him handcuffed and taken to Keumbu Police Station.

Advocate Wilkins Ochoki termed the accusations against Monda as fiction terming the County Assembly as being on a fishing expedition terming them as pure politics due to the tough questions the Deputy Governor was asking the Kisii County administration.

Advocate Ndegwa Njiru representing the Kisii County Assembly sought the summoning of David Oyagi who works as the Director of Enforcement in Kisii County Assembly to shed some light on the matter.

The Speaker ruled that the County Enforcement Director David Oyagi be summoned to give evidence before the Senate after the advocates for the county assembly sought to have him appear before the Senate.

Dennis Mokaya took the witness stand and broke down in tears as he narrated to the senate how he sent the Deputy Governor Sh 800,000 in order to help him secure the position of Commercial Manager at the Gusii Water and Sanitation Company(GWASCO) which did not materialize.

Mokaya who was in tears told the house that he had lost his business that was being managed by his wife and that it was not easy for him since his wife was against them selling their business and relocating to Kisii once he got a job and that his wife who was expecting miscarried.

"We were doing business together with my wife in Nairobi and she was totally against us selling our business and relocating to Kisii once I got the Commercial Manager job at GWASCO, she miscarried when I failed to get the job despite paying money to secure it," said Mokaya.

Khalwale asked the Speaker to allow the witness a short break since he was completely emotionally eroded and cannot continue to give evidence but Advocate Elias Mutuma appearing for the county assembly who was leading him in testifying asked him to compose himself.