Governors term Martin Wambora’s impeachment a mockery of justice

Council of Governors chairman Isaac Ruto. [PHOTO: STANDARD]

By CHARLES NGENO

BOMET, KENYA: The Council of Governors has termed the move by the Senate to impeach Embu Governor Martin Wambora as a travesty of justice and an attempt to cripple the counties.

Council’s chairman Isaac Ruto said they had received the Senate’s move with great apprehension and revealed that they will be moving to the Supreme Court on Monday to seek advisory guidance of the court on the matter and the standards that should be met to warrant such a move and whether the Senate has powers to summon the governors.

“As governors we have written to the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution, the Attorney General and the Senate on the oversight role of the Senate.

We seek to know if the Governor is the accounting officer of the County Government,” said Ruto.

Addressing the press in Bomet Saturday, Ruto said as governors they are shocked by the revelation that the Senate has lined up 11 other governors for impeachment.

Work in cahoots

He warned that if this precedence is allowed then it will turn County Assemblies into lynch mobs. He also said the deputy governors may decide to work in cahoots with county assemblies as a way of ousting the governors.

He called on President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to accord the matter the seriousness it deserves because it has the potential to cause political upheaval and kill devolution that is a key pillar for the Jubilee Government.

“Any attempt to derail devolution in the country will be opposed by Kenyans and the political class must ensure that devolution is protected for posterity,” he said, adding that the governors should be given time to establish management systems properly.

Ruto said there should be a legal process for the Governor to completely exhaust all the avenues of defence against allegations of misappropriation of county funds.  “The Deputy Governor, in the instance of impeachment of the governor, should be subjected to an electoral process prior to ascending to the office of the governor in any county.

This will bar future deputy governors from absolving blame from themselves and automatically assuming the role of the Governor once impeachment has occurred,” said Ruto

Ruto said the Council of Governors has noted with great concern that the Senate chose to vote through acclamation instead of secret ballot on the impeachment and the committee sat in the morning and put the Governor to his defence in the afternoon without availing him the report so as to prepare his defence and went ahead to uphold the impeachment.

“This kind of voting amounts to subjecting the Governor to a lynch mob. It is a very strange way of doing things,” he said. There have been several attempts by some quarters to lure members of county assemblies to work against governors in various regions in the country in part of a wider scheme to derail devolution and paint counties in bad light.