Mayor in trouble over corruption allegations

By James Munyeki and Renson Buluma

A row has erupted at the Nyahururu Municipal Council after civic leaders demanded that the mayor steps aside to pave way for investigations over alleged mismanagement of council resources.

However, a meeting which was set to take place yesterday where the civic leaders planned to oust Mayor Timothy Nduhiu flopped at the last minute after he sought a court order barring them from discussing his conduct.

Through his lawyer Martin Waichungo, he sought to have the matter adjourned until a case between him and the clerk, Meshack Kimani, is concluded.

No confidence

The councillors had planned to have a vote of no confidence on him through a special full council meeting. They accused the mayor of mismanaging council funds and being involved in land grabbing among others, allegations the mayor has denied.

A civic leader who sought anonymity said: “We want him to step aside to pave the way for investigations into corruption issues over which we have written to the Ministry of Local Government about on several occasions. Failure to do this, we will pass a vote of no confidence through a special full council meeting where the agenda will be raised.”

But the mayor said the whole issue was a witch hunt after his rivals witnessed his development record. “These allegations are falsehoods meant to tarnish my name for political reasons. There is nowhere in the law that they can remove me from office and I will keep on discharging my duties,” he told The Standard.

Elsewhere, normalcy returned to the Busia Municipal Council after striking workers called off their strike.

Negotiations

This follows successful negotiations between the workers’ union and the council management that saw workers get at least Sh6 million out of the Sh16.4 million in salary arrears.

Treasurer Sylvance Obondo said all the 142 council workers reported to work yesterday ending a one-day strike that paralysed business at the council. “We are happy that normal service delivery has resumed but in future, we hope the workers will follow the right procedure when airing their grievances,” said Obondo.