Why it will be an uphill task to remove governors from office

Senate Justice Legal Affairs and Human Right Chairman who is also Nandi County Senator Samson Cherargei speaking to the press in Eldoret yesterday. (Peter Ochieng, Standard).

Speaker of the National Assembly will have veto powers to determine the fate of an impeachment motion against the president and deputy president if a Bill introduced in the Senate is enacted.

Respective speakers of county assemblies will also determine the admissibility of impeachment motions against governors, according to the Impeachment Procedure Bill.

The Bill, which gives the process for the removal from office by impeachment of among others the president and his deputy, places the position of the speaker of the National Assembly at a vantage point of gate-keeping. 

If passed by the Senate and a concurrence given by the National Assembly, it will be upon the speaker to determine if an impeachment motion meets the standards set in law, allowing him room to approve or reject it.

The Constitution in Article 145 prescribed the procedure for the impeachment of the president and the deputy, but it does not provide adequate room for checks on the motion. It provides the thresholds of membership that suffices in passing the motion and directing the movement of the Bill from the National Assembly where it is supposed to originate and to the Senate that has the final say in impeaching the two leaders.

The Senate Bill is sponsored by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, through Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei.

 “The Speaker (of the National Assembly) shall examine the proposed motion and the list containing names of the supporting members submitted… and if satisfied that the motion complies, approve the motion and notifies the member within three days,” states the Bill in Section 3(a).

The proposed law has already been read for the first time in Senate and is supposed to come up for debate when the House resumes today after a month-long break.

 In the event that the speaker feels that the Bill does not meet the legal requirements, he is granted powers to decline it and inform the sponsor of the same giving reasons for his decision. The Bill also outlines the procedures of removing cabinet secretaries, governors and their deputies, and county executives.

In the case of Government officials at the counties, the determination of the fate of such motions is vested on county assemblies speakers.

 “The law envisages a Speaker who is impartial, who is nothing more than the moderator of debate in the House," Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr said.

"They will be required to exercise very high degree of judicial notice of the process and if he vetoes the process when there are sufficient grounds to warrant the impeaching of the President, then they could also suffer similar consequences,” said Kilonzo Jnr.

Mr Cherargei yesterday defended the Bill, saying Parliament was operating without a law that gives the procedure for an impeachment.   

“This is a law that had been introduced in the last Parliament, but unlike then when it only dealt with the impeachment of the governor, this gives guidelines on impeaching of all cadre of leaders,” said the Nandi senator.

Baringo North MP William Cheptumo supported the Bill and said: "There are many areas where the law is not express on matters of impeachment. I believe this is what that proposed law intends to guide"

“Importantly, the issue of public participation of the process needs to be outlined in a substantive legislation, and we believe it is captured in the proposed law,” he said. 

Cherargei revealed that the Bill also outlines the process of conducting public participation in the impeachment process, which was cited by the Court of Appeal as a mandatory requirement before undertaking the impeachment in the case involving Embu Governor Martin Wambora.