What does it take to down Martin Wambora? Senate at a loss

Council of Governors chairperson Martin Wambora during his visit to Mombasa County on Wednesday May 19, 2021. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

What would it take to corner Embu Governor Martin Wambora? Two impeachment proceedings have failed in the past, so it was a no-brainer that a probe by the Senate’s Health Committee on Wednesday could not yield much.

The Council of Governors’ chair seems to be immune to any form of trouble, deflecting what would ordinarily sink his colleagues.

Given the mutual dislike between governors and senators, the session promised a gruelling duel. Wambora leads the council that unanimously finds senators unfair, ever itching to have the county chiefs lose their jobs.

According to the county bosses, senators are so eager to have governors fired that they would eject them from office over the flimsiest reasons, perhaps even for breathing too loud.

To governors, the lawmakers’ recent actions against Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi Mohamud all but proved their claim. Wambora has been the most vocal protester, issuing successive statements to express his dissent.

Unlike many who have snubbed the committee, the Embu boss woke up bright and early to face fear-inducing senators concerned that Wambora’s government hadn’t put money meant to fight Covid-19 to prudent use.

He showed up, perhaps, knowing that the session would fail to start, having consulted his gods who have never deserted him. For more than half an hour when the sitting began, the oracles confused his would-be enemies by disrupting their gadgets, rendering them unable to log into the virtual sitting.

The victim of his intimacy with the gods was a representative of the Auditor General, whose phone’s network bars could not fill up. Climbing a tree would have helped, but it would prove too hard a task if he had a briefcase of evidence against the governor.

Wambora sat patiently, watching everything unfold, probably marvelling at his masters’ supernatural abilities. Naturally, the senators weren’t amused and whined that the Auditor General’s office didn’t take its work seriously.

Wambora then unleashed a bombshell, saying that the governors’ baraza had directed the Auditor General not to audit them as they had been audited many times.

As expected, the county watchdogs fumed and questioned where Wambora got powers to direct an independent office holder.

Seemingly unfazed, the county boss kept silent and let the senators rave as much as they could, perhaps aware that there was nothing much they could do to hurt him. Not when they had failed twice to have him removed from office.