Twelve voters want their county speaker sacked

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Twelve voters from Embu County have lodged a suit to have their assembly speaker declared unfit to hold office.

They filed the suit at the High Court in Nairobi yesterday, demanding to have Speaker Kariuki Mate compelled to resign accusing him of conducting himself in a manner inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution on how a public officer should act.

They cited a corruption case against Mr Mate where in 2008 he was charged in court for corruptly soliciting for Sh1 million when he was working for the Kenya National African Union (Kanu) party.

They claim that Mate lacks integrity to hold public office. They also state that Mate has been convicted by the Kerugoya High Court for contempt of court and only awaits sentencing.

“The first respondent lacks integrity and is, therefore, illegal and unconstitutional for him to continue holding the public office of the Speaker of the County Assembly of Embu,” reads the suit.

Mate is also being accused of demeaning the office of County speaker of Embu by publicly ridiculing judges.

The speaker allegedly disparaged judges who handled a petition in which he was cited for contempt.

He allegedly solicited bribes from candidates he interviewed for various positions advertised by the County government of Embu in 2013.