Wambora’s fate sealed by 39 votes: It’s the law

BY OSCAR OBONYO

NAIROBI, KENYA: After months of gruelling campaigns in four constituencies, nearly 100,000 people elected Martin Nyaga Wambora as Governor of Embu County on March 4, 2013. But on Friday night at exactly 11:07pm, some 39 senators – none of them a registered voter in Embu – voted him out of office.

The 39 senators have accordingly nullified the decision of 94,703 voters who gave Wambora the mandate to manage their county affairs. A smaller number — 22 Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) of Embu, all of them registered voters in the county, kicked off the entire process.  

That the relevant laws accord relatively easier avenue for impeachment of a governor, who has a wider mandate and area of jurisdiction than even a constituency MP, is baffling.

Even Elgeyo-Marakwet County Senator, Kipchumba Murkomen, who was among those who presided over Wambora’s case, concedes, “the law is truly an ass”.

“If the law had given a window that we can forgive him, I would personally have forgiven Wambora. But again we have a constitutional responsibility as Senate to protect counties and county governments against fraud, corruption and other ills,” says Murkomen, the vice chair of the Senate Committee that probed Wambora.

The governor’s historic and dramatic exit has now sent shivers down the spines of many of his colleagues, who must now contend with the reality that the Senate wields the all-important powers of firing them. Incidentally, most of the governors are at loggerheads with their individual county senators. 

The chairman of the Governors’ Council, Mr Isaac Ruto, says the development has confirmed the governors’ worst fears – that there is a grand scheme to kill devolution in the country.

Deputy Chairman, who is the Governor of Nairobi City, Dr Evans Kidero, describes the move by the Senate as one that “sets a very dangerous precedence, because it threatens the independence of the governors to operate freely”.     

And describing Wambora’s fate as mob lynching, Marsabit County Governor Ukur Yatani claims the action by the Senate had nothing to do with Wambora the individual, but rather everything to do with strained relations between members of that House and the Governors’ Council.

Supremacy battle

“He has simply been victimised on behalf of the rest of us. Looking at the charges at hand, they do not touch on the governor but an officer in the county office. We have not seen, for instance, the President being impeached because some junior officer or a minister flouted a procurement rule,” protests Yatani.  

But Murkomen warns governors against hiding behind the so-called supremacy battle between them and senators: “The moment we reduce such weighty matters of devolution to supremacy battles, them we shall be giving some people excuses to get away with anything and blame it on supremacy wars”.

Talking about devolution, Yatani warns that it will now have serious challenges, as governors will be engrossed more in fighting for their personal survival than pushing the development agenda.

“I see a frightening scenario where governors may opt to divert cash from development kitties simply to appease MCAs,” reacts Yatani.   

However, human rights lawyer, Harun Ndubi, supports the impeachment process on account of accountability. It is a good thing, he argues, if it is used to guard against misuse of public resources.

“But if we are going to use impeachment as a tool for vengeance or a mere witch-hunt for paying political debts, then it is a bad thing that we must all stand up against,” says Ndubi.  

Reflecting on the historic case, Murkomen maintains members of his committee “worked so hard” to ensure that there was due diligence in the process.

He denies accusations of mob lynching stating that even MCAs from Embu and the general public from the region had expressed displeasure with Wambora’s performance.

The governor, who had served for only 10 months, has had an indeed very shaky period in office. Before the axe from the Senate on Friday, Wambora survived a petition in the High Court in August last year, challenging his election as governor.

In her ruling on August 22, Embu Resident Judge Lady Justice Hedwig Ong’undi rejected the petition filed by Kithinji Kiragu. The loser had garnered 82,825 votes against Wambora’s 94,703.

It is not all over for Wambora according to Ndubi who is categorical, “we haven’t seen the last of him”. The lawyer’s opinion is based on the fact that during the entire impeachment, two court orders to stop the process were disregarded at the County Assembly and Senate level.

“There is an interesting case on our hands if he chooses to proceed to court,” observes Ndubi.

In the meantime, Chief Justice Willy Mutunga Saturday constituted a three-judge Bench to hear Wambora’s application challenging impeachment.