Makueni dissolution team resumes sittings

The chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Dissolution of Makueni County Mohammed Nyaoga addressing the lawyers with commissioner Taib Ali Taib during the start of the commission's public hearing at KICC on 23-04-15.[Photo/Tabitha Otwori/STANDARD]

The commission hearing a petition to dissolve the Makueni County Government will resume its sitting today at Wote town.

It is expected that the clerk of the County Assembly Edward Libendi, who was on the stand when it adjourned last Friday, will continue giving his testimony.

Mr Libendi has so far taken the longest time on the witness box. At one time while being grilled by commissioner Taib Ali Taib, and seemingly overwhelmed by the pressure, Libendi threatened to quit testifying, attracting the wrath of the commission chairman Mohamed Nyaoga (pictured).

"My friend, it is not for you to tell us if you want to stop testifying. It is this commission that will advise you when to stop appearing," Mr Nyaoga said.

The clerk said that the petition to dissolve the county government lacks merit. He told the commission that the only problem bedeviling the county government was a "small matter" of lack of communication between the two arms which, he said, does not warrant dissolution.

Nyaoga noted that the disconnect between the two arms appeared to show one arm "operating in Wajir while the other operated in Malindi yet they are barely 100m apart".

However, Libendi, who has been straight shooting in his answers, was accused of feigning ignorance over a complaint from the Controller of Budget on wasteful spending by the assembly. He had told the commission that he was not aware of such a complaint.

Nyaoga warned Libendi against being a "person who sees no evil, hears no evil and does no evil" yet portrays others as being at fault. Questioned over financial mismanagement in the county, Libendi said the assembly will not succumb to the executive's scrutiny.

"The assembly is not and will never be subject to an oversight from the county executive. That is my position," he said.

adopt report

In another incident, Nyaoga and Taib piled pressure on Libendi to explain how a select committee of the assembly investigating a report to oust finance executive Alidan Mbinda adopted the report in five minutes.

"The committee was satisfied with the impeachment report in that period of time," he replied.

Last week, Libendi told the commission that the assembly is in talks with the Senate to ensure the county gets Sh127 million more than what the Commission for Revenue Allocation recommended.

Governor Kivutha Kibwana's lawyer Wilfred Nyamu said members of the executive are scared of holding the finance docket for fear of a rogue assembly.

Initially, petitioner Francis Mailu, who is rooting for the dissolution of county government, was hard pressed by counsels for the assembly to produce evidence that the assembly was impeding development. He said his lawyer has the evidence.

Mr Mailu said shootings at the assembly grounds on September 23, 2014, where six people were injured was proof enough that the two arms of government were no longer capable of working together.

The petitioner painted a picture of a rogue assembly out to fleece the public, saying that its demand for Sh1 billion for operations, maintenance and overseas trips, out of the county's Sh4.6 billion budget for the 2013-14 financial year had angered residents.

Asked by lawyer Charles Njenga, representing the assembly, whether the problems in Makueni were any different from those facing other counties, Mailu said: "Comparing our problems to those in other counties is like comparing a dead child to a broken calabash. Our case is like that of a dead child."

The commission might also be summoning a witch-doctor whose name featured prominently in the past proceedings. The witchdoctor nicknamed 'Mulika' allegedly appeared at the assembly grounds in 2013 after Governor Kibwana and MCAs disagreed on the budget.

withdrew testimony

Pastor John Kangwana, another petitioner told the commission that Mulika's visit to the assembly heightened the disagreements, and claimed that the MCAs shifted their sessions to Malili after his visit.

On the possibility of inviting the witch -octor to explain what his mission was at the assembly, Taib said: "The commission is mandated to listen to everybody regardless of their position to get a clear picture of what ails the county." The commission also witnessed a spectacle when Ndunda Muthoka, an Administration Police Officer attached to Speaker Stephen Ngelu, withdrew his testimony midway.