MCA's evidence against Meru governor is based on lies, lawyers

Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza with her lawyers Elias Mutuma and Elisha Ongoya during the impeachment hearing before the Senate Assembly on August 19, 2024 [Boniface Okendo, Standard] The matter of a governor being impeached for a third time reveals a deficit of trust by the residents of the county they run, Meru County Assembly told the Senate yesterday as it opened its case against Governor Kawira Mwangaza. Mwangaza who was dressed in white sat pensively as the Assembly Advocate Ndegwa Njiru put their case forward seeking to convince the Senate to uphold the charges levelled against her and send her home. The governor denied all charges. Njiru said the governor is not able to manage county human resources with those pointing out mistakes being victimised. He asked the Senate to hold her accountable since 85 per cent of Meru residents supported the decision of the Assembly as evidenced during a public participation that had been conducted. "Governor Kawira is fond of blaming others for her mistakes, it is not the joy of the County Assembly bringing the Governor before the Senate for the third time, they are out to find a cure of the ailing Meru County and they hope the people of Meru will get justice," said Njiru. Njiru said service delivery in Meru has been compromised under the leadership of the governor who has been identified as the problem in the smooth running of the county. He said Meru has experienced leadership failures in the last two years that Kawira has been at the helm. Advocate Boniface Mawira for the County Assembly said the governor and members of county executive have ignored invitations to appear before the assembly to respond to various questions. He told the Senate that has led cases of impeachment as a way of getting justice for the people of Meru. Mawira said that letters have been forged by the governor to deflect attention on her failures so as to hoodwink the Senate. "Should the Meru County Assembly remain silent as a cabal of officers ran down the Meru County Administration? It is through the grace of God that the Assembly is being heard by the Senate since several attempts have been made to stop the assembly from performing its key mandate," said Mawira. The governor's defence team yesterday dismissed all charges against their client saying the impeachment was a predetermined matter organised much earlier and had awaited execution. Advocate Elias Mutuma appearing for Governor Mwangaza said the legal team of the Assembly had predicted during the previous impeachment that there will be another impeachment. He asked the team to explain to the Senate how they reached that assumption. "The Meru County Assembly is composed of pathological liars, they went and created this third impeachment immediately after we left the Senate in November last year after the dismissal of the second impeachment process, our case is that lies were created and repeated many times, which does not make them the truth," said Mutuma. The lawyer said that no matter the mud smeared on the governor, she will remain blameless and clean and that Senators who are sitting as Judges should look at the evidence, analyse it and give justice to the governor and the people of Meru who have full confidence with the house. Elisha Ongoya who is leading Meru governor's defence team told the Senate sitting that his client should not be victimized since those who are out to torment Mwangaza are tireless. He said even if the governor was reinstated, they had six more times to impeach her. Ongoya said Dr Ntoiti who is listed as having been sacked is not an employee of the county and is currently employed by the Nairobi County Government. He said none of the people listed as sacked by the governor had been fired. "We are going to demonstrate to the Senate that the governor has not talked about Sh 86 million being raised for the slain blogger Daniel Muthiani alias Sniper through paybill number as is being alleged by the Meru County Assembly," said Ongoya. The Advocate said there was no longer use of a manual payroll in the Government of Meru as it is alleged and the alleged blotted workforce in the governor office was not true. He said there were no 111 personal staff in the governor's office. Nominated MCA Zipporah Kinya who moved the impeachment motion told the Senate that there was an attempt to burn down the County Assembly on August 8 when someone threw a petrol bomb as the assembly was planning to debate the impeachment motion against the Governor.

MCA's evidence against Meru governor is based on lies, lawyers

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