MCAs now plot to impeach Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua for the second time

Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua. He is facing a second impeachment by the county assembly, this time over budget stalemate. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua is facing a second impeachment by the county assembly, this time over budget stalemate.

The impeachment motion to be tabled on Tuesday comes amid previous unsuccessful attempts to reconcile the governor and the MCAs. Nyeri Senator Mutahi Kagwe has met both the Executive and the MCAs in an apparently failed attempt to iron out the differences.

“I told them they must operate within the law and reach a compromise for the sake of the county. My only advice to the leaders is to focus on decisions that benefit the electorate,” Kagwe said.

At the moment, the county’s 2016/17 Budget remains in limbo and the county is only running on Vote of Account, which allows it to utilise half of its revenue.

However, Gachagua maintains that the current stand-off will have been solved by December.

By continuing to reject the budget, the MCAs are shooting themselves in the foot. Although their last month’s salaries were paid, the county assembly is entitled to Sh49 million every month, but only Sh23 million has been disbursed.

Gachagua survived a previous impeachment motion by the assembly, where his Grand Nation Union party (GNU) has nine MCAs against The National Alliance’s (TNA) 36.

Mathari MCA Baragu Mutahi has been handpicked to move the motion and said he was confident it would be passed, as 35 MCAs were already in support.

Mutahi said the grounds for impeachment were corruption allegations and the systematic failure of the county to account for Sh351 million allocated in the 2015/16 budget.

“We have the implementation report from the executive on the 2015/16 budget and they have admitted that they cannot account for Sh351 million,” he said.

Mutahi said systemic failure was evident, as a majority of the County Executive Committee members are in an acting capacity.

“The chairman and secretary of the County Public Service Board have been sent home, while the governor continues to threaten executives for speaking to MCAs,” he said.

But Gachagua believes the MCAs are colluding with his political detractors to paralyse functions of the county government.

He says there may be political interference from a senatorial contender who has pressured, even paid off the MCAs, to mutilate and reject the budget.

Some MCAs are being induced to sign the motion by a legal team currently in Nyeri establishing grounds for impeachment. But it seems the county assembly is split over the motion.

On Friday, during a function presided over by Gachagua, some MCAs who support him disclosed that their colleagues had been given Sh3 million to ensure the impeachment sailed through the assembly.

Edward Ndiritu (Ruringu), Paul Ngiria (Chinga) and Simon Mbogo (Rware) said the county assembly was split into two factions, those allied to Gachagua and the other supporting the impeachment.

The three vowed to block the motion, even as their opponents are out drumming support from more members.

However, Gachagua seems unfazed. The county chief says he is confident that he will weather this storm like he did the previous one.

“I am not concerned about that (impeachment) very much. The grounds to impeach a governor are very clear, it needs to be a gross violation of the constitution and I have not done that,” he said.

He said he was amused that the MCAs are attempting to impeach him without any grounds to do so.

“This is the first impeachment attempt in the whole country where you collect signatures and look for grounds later,” the governor said.

He reads malice in the whole issue, saying the problem started with mutilation of the budget and his government has bought space in the mainstream print media to express its concerns.

The budgetary allocation for the office of the governor was slashed by 99 per cent.

The relationship between the county assembly and the executive has never been as stormy.

Gachagua’s bid to control the MCAs has always been waged on the majority leader position, which has changed hands three times in Nyeri, unlike many other counties which have seen no changes.

Current Majority Leader Duncan Gituanja was previously close to Gachagua, but he appears to have engineered a revolution in which, for the first time, a majority of the MCAs has threatened to impeach the governor.

Anglican Church of Kenya Mt Kenya West Diocese Bishop Joseph Kagunda urged the leaders to uphold respect as they needed each other.

“The governor seems to be working alone, while MPs have steered clear of county issues and MCAs are in the opposite end of the spectrum,” Bishop Kugunda said.