Wambora dealt blow as court declines to halt his impeachment motion

By FRED MAKANA AND KAMAU MUTHONI

NAIROBI, KENYA: Embattled Embu Governor Martin Wambora was dealt a major blow Monday after the High Court declined to stop the Senate from debating his impeachment motion.

Today, a special committee will present a report to the Senate after investigating grounds on which the County Assembly of Embu impeached him.

Wambora’s counsel Wilfred Nyamu walked out of the parliamentary proceedings on Sunday demanding that the committee members disqualify themselves.

Dismissing the application by Nyamu, Principal Judge Justice Richard Mwongo said the court was not satisfied that Wambora’s rights were being violated and that the charges laid against him by the Members of the County Assembly were not similar to the ones instituted against him in January.

“I am not satisfied that the rights of the petitioner will be violated as there is no evidence before this court to show this. The court cannot therefore issue the conservatory orders sought by the petitioner,” said Mwongo.

Mwongo argued that the assembly is privileged to move the matter after which the court can hear if his rights were violated in the process.

The principal judge added that the three months’ window period would not apply in the present proceedings as the court had already nullified the previous proceedings when it found that the assembly had gone ahead to institute the process contrary to its orders.

“Nullity means nothing. The court had ruled that the proceedings against the petitioner were null and void and thus it means that there were no proceedings before the Senate in relation to him before,” he said.

The court did not exonerate him from not being taken to task as the accounting officer after it ruled that there was no enough evidence to show that Wambora was not the man in charge of finances in the county.

“The matters that were brought before the House were not similar to the ones raised against the petitioner in January and thus this cannot be said to be same as the previous ones. The court therefore disallows the preliminary objection in its entirety.”

MUTUNGA’S HAND

Nyamu immediately sought to have the Chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga constitute a two-judge bench by today so as to dispense with the hearing of the case.

However, the judge was of the view that that was not applicable as requested.

“I cannot see if the CJ can be in a position to constitute the Bench as requested by counsel. Such a mater will require time before a bench is put in place. Can we mention this on Wednesday?” The judge said.

 “It cannot be prudent to keep such a petition in abeyance as there is uncertainty in terms of leadership in Embu County after this ruling. If the Senate removes my client from office today, then article 182 of the Constitution comes into effect that the deputy governor becomes the governor. If the Senate removes him, then it will be imperative that they appear before this court on Wednesday,” said Nyamu.

The court ordered that the parties should file their reply to the petition by Wambora by Wednesday when they will appear for further directions.