Let Martin Wambora off hook as no governor is innocent

By Alexander Chagema

Kakamega, Kenya: The Senators must be very proud of themselves for having voted in favour of Embu Governor Martin Wambora’s impeachment.

They have been earnestly seeking relevance and finally the impeachment gave them footing.

In the supremacy wars, they have cowed governors and left MPs’ egos bruised.

Without fear of contradiction I’m categorical that not a single governor is innocent of the charges levied against Wambora. But do we sack them all?

Quarrelsome MCAs

While the Senate was deliberating on Wambora’s fate, a visiting Columbia university professor Mohammed Mamdani was giving a lecture on the fact that courts cannot dare overturn a presidential election for fear of upsetting the system.

This is something we all know but fear to acknowledge.

There is a parallel between the presidency and governorship. Governors are the lesser president in their respective counties and there should be unwritten laws that protect them except in very extreme cases like blatant abuse of office and mental health.

Breaching the public finance and procurement Acts, not theft, was the basis for impeaching Wambora. Procurement in this country has never been above board. Processes involving tendering have been the most corrupt; the latest being the Standard Gauge Railway line tender and the primary schools’ laptop project.

How many people have been brought to book over them? Or perhaps these are special cases? The untouchables alongside Triton, Goldenberg and Anglo leasing?

The thresholds for the presidency and governorship are at par.

Allowing quarrelsome members of county assemblies (MCAs), who for decades have rivaled deranged football hooligans in throwing chairs and all manner of missiles at each other, to impeach governors is exposing devolution and governors to open blackmail.

A good number of the ward representatives are semi-literate. Their intellectual depth is seriously wanting.

Governors will now have to switch to survival mode by dancing to the tune of the MCAs. These fellows should never have been given powers to initiate the impeachment of governors.

Lynch mob

I must congratulate senators Gideon Moi and Lenny Kivuti for seeing beyond their noses and refusing to be part of a ‘myopic lynch mob’.

Now that Senator Boni Khalwale’s professional training has taken over, perhaps he should come to the aid of the President, his deputy, embattled governors, clueless senators and MCAs by sacking them all to alleviate the financial burden of ‘treating ulcers and high blood pressure triggered by the mere act of holding office’.