Draft law to raise threshold of sending governors home

By MOSES NJAGIH

The threshold of removing a governor from office through impeachment could be raised if a proposed law by Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki is enacted.

Yesterday, he disclosed that he was in the final stages of drafting the Impeachment Bill, which could give the electorate a chance to give their input in an impeachment process being carried by their county assembly representatives.

The Tharaka Nithi Senator said the proposed law would provide necessary safeguards to ensure that the impeachment tool is not abused and that county assembly embraces other mechanisms to probe and discipline county chiefs who engage in improprieties.

This, Prof Kindiki argued, would ensure county assemblies only apply the impeachment tool as a last resort and sparingly to avoid possible instances where governors are held at ransom by ward representatives keen on furthering their personal interests.

He said the sudden wave of impeachment could slow down devolution and affect performance of county bosses.

Kindiki said the constitutional clause allowing MCAs to impeach county bosses must be used “sparingly and as a last resort” to avoid incapacitating governors.

“Impeachment should not be used as the weapon of first resort. It should be used sparingly and only when all other avenues have been exhausted. It should never be that whenever a governor has done something wrong then MCAs rush to bring him down,” he said.

At a Press conference in Parliament yesterday, Kindiki said his proposed Bill will ensure other accountability mechanisms, such as the Criminal Investigations Department and Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, are called in for financial probe into governors, before the MCAs can employ the impeachment tool.

 “Even at Senate we have formed a committee for accountability purposes and we expect these mechanisms to be employed instead of rushing to impeachment,” he said.

He said the current wave of impeachment has made the position of governors the most insecure.

He advised that safeguards must be employed to protect the post as an elective seat, and thus engage the electorate in the event of an impeachment.

“We have received reports of some county assemblies whose members are blackmailing governors requesting foreign trips and warning they would employ impeachment. We will act tough if these allegations are substantiated,” he said.

He urged the Council of Governors, under the leadership of Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto, to report to Senate whenever their members are incapacitated by MCAs.

“We are in office to protect county governments, not just the executive arm of counties. We do not want to be used as a rubberstamp for impeachments founded on frivolous, vexatious and malicious reasons,” he said.