Machakos residents petition to impeach Governor Wavinya amid power wrangles

Machakos governor Wavinya Ndeti makes her speech during the launch of Machakos Youth Service at Machakos Agricultural Training Center in Machakos County on January 17, 2025. She said the program aims at offering courses that equip young people with practical skills for sustainable livelihoods. John Muia, Standard Three Machakos residents have filed a petition before the Machakos County assembly for removal from office of Governor Wavinya Ndeti over what they term as gross misconduct, abuse of office and gross violation of the constitution. The petition by Henry Carlos Kioko, Justus Kioko and Sidney Munyalo is before the assembly legal team for scrutiny to ascertain if it meets legal requirements. "We demand immediate impeachment proceedings against governor Wavinya Ndeti. A full audit by auditor General of all stalled projects, payroll records and irregular payments. Immediate suspension of all suspicious projects and payments pending investigations," the petitioners demanded. The petition brings a new twist to the power struggles that have hit the County. They want Governor Wavinya Ndeti to face the axe, citing financial mismanagement and corruption, irregular and unauthorized payments and stalled projects. The petitioners also cite unjustified payments for an incomplete health management system and also allege that Wavinya is operating with ghost workers. The petition presented to the County Assembly adds to the ensuing stand-off between two warring factions of the County Assembly of Machakos. And now, Machakos County residents will be forced to wait much longer for service delivery in various areas following Tuesday's decision by the embattled county assembly Speaker to suspend the plenary and committee sittings indefinitely. The MCAs, who had returned from a recess taken since March 12, 2025, could not proceed with normal sessions after chaos broke out over whether or not the Speaker, Ann Kiusya, was entitled to preside over sittings. Ms Kiusya, the only female County Assembly Speaker in the country, is facing an onslaught from at least 33 MCAs, who last month filed a notice of Motion in the assembly seeking to impeach her on grounds of alleged incompetence, abuse of office and gross violation of the constitution. Machakos Central MCA, Nicholas Nzioka, alias Wangondi, who is also the leader of the majority in the House, is leading the Speaker's impeachment crusade. On the other hand, some 22 MCAs, mainly drawn from the opposition side of the House, have vowed to shoot down the impeachment Motion, claiming that the move has been orchestrated by the governors' right-hand persons with an intent to hold the legislative arm of the government captive. Although Speaker Kiusya had already obtained orders from the High Court stopping any proceedings of her impeachment until April 30, Wangondi's team violently disrupted the commencement of official plenary sittings scheduled for Tuesday, April 8, brandishing a fresh notice of Motion to kick her out of the office. Addressing the media at the assembly premises on Tuesday, Wangondi stated that the Speaker was out of order to claim veto powers on the House business committee, which is mandated to come up with the issues to be discussed by members in the plenary. "The Speaker cannot purport to veto the House business committee. It was wrong for her to lock herself in her office and decide which issues were to be tabled before the plenary. She aims to make us lose focus. Unfortunately, you cannot replace incompetence. It is up to her to quit that office because there are many other qualified Kenyans out there that are qualified to run that docket," said the Majority Leader. The MCAs accused the Speaker of failure to implement any visible project compared to her predecessors. "We have no idea what the current Speaker has achieved for the past two and half years. She has never brought any single report of the County Assembly Public Service Board as required by the law. We are telling her the time is now to pave the way for another competent Speaker," he said, claiming that Sh250 million was returned to the treasury for lack of absorption. On Wednesday, the nominated MCA, Hellen Ndeti, expressed disappointment with the Speaker's move to suspend the Assembly sittings, terming it inconsistent with the law. "The Speaker has no such powers. She acted on imaginary powers in her decision to suspend the House sittings and plenary indefinitely. Such a move is harmful to residents because it will affect development big time," Ndeti told The Standard on telephone. The MCA pointed out that the calendar of the County Assembly has a definite schedule and must not be altered on flimsy grounds. Her sentiments were echoed by a governance expert, Titus Ndundu, who called for a swift solution to the stand-off at the assembly. "In such an environment, you can be sure there will be no delivery of services to the people of Machakos. The MCAs must lead by example and stop pursuing vested political interests," Eng Ndundu told The Standard in a phone interview. He said it was incumbent on the leaders of the main political parties to rein in their members to stop the side-shows and focus on serving the citizens. "Party leaders have a huge role to play. They should mop up their members and remind them of their roles. If that fails, it might lead to a discussion on the dissolution of the county government like it happened a few years back in Makueni County," he said. Dominic Maitha, a wiper MCA from Muthwani, is shielding the impeachment of Kiusya: "The majority whip in the assembly should stop fuelling chaos in the Machakos assembly. The court has already pronounced itself on the matter. Any attempts to attack the speaker using chairs was uncalled for, and attempts by some MCAs to enter champers with firearms isn't allowed; we will have the speaker serve till 2027," said MCA Maitha. The chaos, according to Maitha, is sponsored by the executive wing: "Let the executive keep off the assembly business and allow us do the watchdog job and we will pass things that are bound to help our people and shoot down anything that is made for wastage." The wing pulling the opposite side is also accusing the governor of failure to heed the assembly series of advisories by hiring "unnecessary personnel", a move they are saying is costing the county millions of funds. Among the controversial spending is the Machakos Youth Service (MYS) that had earlier been budgeted Sh800 million that the legislators cite lack of proper legislative framework. The pull and push in Machakos comes at a time when the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is investigating several senior officials over corruption. "The commission is investigating several allegations of corruption by senior officials of Machakos County government. The recent being Mr. Onesmus Kuyu, CEC Finance and Guliye Yunis, Chief Officer-Water. These two have since recorded statements at EACC headquarters," EACC head of communication, Stephen Karuga, told the standard. As the pressure mounts, the fate of both the speaker and the governor hangs in the balance as the EACC investigates the latter's senior officials whilst the majority of MCAs plot for the former's removal.

Machakos residents petition to impeach Governor Wavinya amid power wrangles

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Machakos residents petition to impeach Governor Wavinya amid power wrangles

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