MPs, traders threaten to oust William Kabogo over taxes

Kiambu Governor William Kabogo. (Photo:File/Standard)

By Eric Wainaina

Kiambu, Kenya: The rift between Governor William Kabogo and Kiambu MPs seems to be widening after the legislators said they support the traders planning to impeach him.

MPs Kimani Ichung’wa (Kikuyu) Alice Ng’ang’a (Thika), Mburu Kahangara (Lari) and Kigo Njenga (Gatundu North) said Mr Kabogo needs to be taught a lesson.

They spoke in Kikuyu during a protest by traders over increased levies. The county’s Chamber of Commerce chairman Thunguri Warwathe said they were collecting enough signatures to impeach Kabogo after he ignored their pleas on the new levies.

Mr Ichungwa and Ms Ng’ang’a said they would be among the first people to append their signatures on the removal notice because the governor had turned down all attempts to co-operate.

Ng’ang’a said they even sent clergymen to talk to Kabogo over county issues but he turned a deaf ear on them.

“He (Kabogo) said only MCAs can impeach him but after two years are over, we (public) will get a chance to send him home,” she told the protestors, adding that 11 out of 13 MPs from the county are united in the cause.

Ichun’gwa said MCAs could no longer be trusted to defend the county’s people, saying they were after their own interests.

The lawmaker claimed the governor has been using county resources and time to go around ‘bad-mouthing’ other leaders instead of concentrating on development.

This came just a day after Kabogo, while touring Kikuyu town, accused Ichung’wa of involving himself too much in national politics and spending his energies fighting the county leadership instead of capitalising on the development agenda of his constituency.

But Ichung’wa said as an MP, he had a right to travel everywhere to defend President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government.

Mburu said the levies imposed by the county government were punitive and would push majority of the traders out of business and that its approval was suspicious.

“When the Bill was drafted, we protested and it was rejected in the assembly. According the law, they Bill should have been taken back to the assembly after six months but games were played and it was sneaked back in and approved without changes,” he said.

While asking traders not to pay the new levies, the MPs said they would give financial support in legal fees for cases filed in court seeking to have the levies cancelled.

During his Kikuyu tour, Kabogo maintained that locals must pay levies if they want development and services from his government.