Heed legislators' caution or else..., MCA who led failed ouster attempt warns county boss

Mixed reactions greeted the Senate decision to overturn the impeachment of Governor Kawira Mwangaza by the Meru County Assembly.

The sponsor of the failed impeachment bid Dennis 'DMK' Kiogora regretted that the assembly's bid to oust Governor Mwangaza was rejected by senators through a select committee chaired by Kakamega's Bonny Khalwale.

Mr Kiogora said while the assembly had the power to craft another motion to sack her, he hoped the governor will follow the advise from senators to consult widely and seek consensus on important decisions.

Kiogora, the Abogeta MCA, said while they had no power to challenge the Senate's decision, they were at liberty to work on a fresh motion, though he did not expressly say they would take that route.

"That decision can only be challenged with a fresh impeachment motion. We don't agree with the Senate's decision," he said. "I hope the governor will heed the advice given to her by the senators."

Meanwhile, some leaders in Meru welcome the senate's decision to overturn the impeachment.

Former Imenti Central Imenti MP and human rights lawyer Gitobu Imanyara said he was not surprised by the outcome.

"This is the result I had anticipated. Impeachment is not a light matter and can only be sustained by charges that raise substantial and grave violations of the law," Imanyara said yesterday.

Imanyara said the accusations levelled against the governor were not strong enough to warrant her ejection from the governor's office.

"The charges against Kawira could not, even if true, meet the threshold of impeachment as demanded by law. They were parochial and highly political in nature and only sought to achieve what her opponents could not achieve at the ballot box," he said.

Nevertheless, he said: "Kawira needs to change her governance style if she wants a peaceful term in office."

The lone MCA out of the 70 who opposed the motion was Kiagu Ward's Simon Ngaruni.

He expressed joy after the senate found no case against Governor Kawira who was elected as on independent ticket. Mr Ngaruni said he had gone through the motion and found the allegations false, stating that Kawira had done no wrong.

He appealed to his colleagues to put aside the differences so that all leaders could join Kawira in achieving development for the people.

"I always believed she was innocent of the charges brought against her. So I stood with her," he said.

Former Nominated MP Halima Mucheke congratulated the Senate for delivering a fair judgement.

"My feeling was that it was too early to impeach Kawira or any other governor because it was going to set a bad precedent and most governors would have been forced to serve at the mercy of MCA's," said Ms Mucheke. She said it would not have been good for Kawira to suffer the fate of Anarita Karimi, who was Meru's first elected MP in 1970s but did not serve for long after she was ejected over alleged theft of school funds soon after her historic win.