County assemblies flagged for ouster 'drama'

Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo (second right) and his lawyers during the impeachment hearing before the Senate, on December 3, 2025. [Boniface Okendo, Standard

The acknowledgement by senators that county assemblies have abused the impeachment process against governors raises many questions about how the exercise has been conducted since the onset of devolution.

For more than ten years, the country has repeatedly witnessed impeachment drama at the Senate, where some motions have been dismissed either on technicalities or for lack of compelling reasons to remove the governors.

On Wednesday, Governor Amos Nyaribo of Nyamira County also escaped impeachment after it was found that the process conducted by the county assembly failed to meet the required threshold.

His lawyer, Elias Mutuma, told the Senate that although the County Assembly of Nyamira comprises 35 members, on the material date of impeachment the official record confirmed that only 19 members were physically present in the chamber.

The advocate argued that, apart from the numbers not meeting the constitutional threshold, it was alleged that some four Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) voted through proxies.

Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot concurred with Mutuma, arguing that processes of past impeachment hearings brought to the Senate were also flawed, although some governors were removed due to political pressure from high offices.

Apart from ignoring glaring indicators that due process was not adhered to for political reasons, Cheruiyot also raised concerns that Parliament is yet to enact a law on the impeachment procedure, which has left MCAs groping in the dark in their accusations against governors.

Citing cases of former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and his Kiambu counterpart Ferdinand Waititu, the senator claimed that both were hounded out of office by the Senate for political reasons, despite the fact that Nairobi and Kiambu County assemblies did not meet the impeachment threshold.

The Kericho Senator said that the requisite quorum for Nyamira should have been 24 members of the county assembly for Governor Nyaribo to be validly impeached, given that the assembly has 35 members, while it was clear that only 19 MCAs supported the motion.

Mutuma had earlier told the Senate, while raising preliminary objections, that the assembly recorded 23 votes in favour of the motion despite only 19 being present at the time.

He suggested that this numerical impossibility demonstrated that improper and fraudulent voting occurred, constituting a fundamental violation of the Standing Orders and the Constitution.

Nyaribo survived impeachment on a technicality after 38 Senators voted in support of a motion tabled by Cheruiyot to terminate the hearing of the charges, following the governor’s defence team successfully arguing that the threshold had not been met

Isiolo Governor Abdi Ibrahim Hassan also survived impeachment in July this year, after senators concluded that MCAs of Isiolo did not follow the law in their attempt to remove him from office.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna said that in some cases, witnesses admitted that there was no sitting to conduct impeachment proceedings because chaos had erupted in the county assembly.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale argued that MCAs across the country need to respect the process of removing governors by following due process, rather than using shortcuts for such a serious matter, which carries major political ramifications.

Siaya Senator Oburu Oginga added that they cannot teach county assemblies bad habits by allowing them to bring half-baked cases and that the correct procedure must be followed.

In October last year, Kericho Governor Erick Mutai survived impeachment after 34 Senators supported a preliminary objection raised by his advocate, Katwa Kigen, citing that the two-thirds threshold had not been met, while 10 Senators opposed it.