Kawira Mwangaza fights back: Governor challenges third impeachment bid in court
Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza.
Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza has gone to court to stop local MCAs from pursuing a third impeachment motion against her on Thursday, July 25.
Meru High Court Judge Linus Phogon Kassan certified the matter as urgent and scheduled it for hearing at noon on Wednesday, with the court to deliver its ruling by 7pm.
Ms Mwangaza wants the court to issue an interim order restraining the MCAs from conducting the exercise, arguing that it was sponsored by her political opponents.
She argued that two of the grounds relied on by the MCAs were the subject of active criminal and civil cases and would therefore prejudice their outcomes.
Ms Mwangaza claimed that the said impeachment motion had become the basis for allegations of forgery after a section of MCAs said to be supporting it claimed that their signatures were forged.
Through lawyers Elias Mutuma and Ashaba Mark, the governor says the impeachment motion is flawed and driven by malice from her political opponents.
She claims that the MCAs were whipped along political lines to impeach her in order to settle political scores with her opponents.
In a sworn affidavit, Ms Mwangaza asked Justice Kassam to look into a series of impeachment motions filed against her barely two years after she assumed office.
She describes the series of impeachment motions as a witch-hunt without proper grounds and says that is why they were all struck out by the Senate.
"I have particularly suffered at the hands of the Meru County Assembly whose members have made it their goal to constantly, persistently, relentlessly and frequently frustrate my governance of the county. The political parties have even gone to the extent of mobilising their members against my leadership," she claims.
Ms Mwangaza claims that after the last impeachment attempt was thwarted by the Senate, she had extended an olive branch to her opponents in an attempt to bring peace.
“I particularly went out of my way to have meetings with the leaders and even attended a retreat for the Members of the County Assembly to bridge any distance between the leaders.
“The leaders who lost in the last general elections have been scheming to ensure my removal from office. The impeachment scheme against me has now remained a continuous agenda pursued by the County Assembly relentlessly,” she avers.
However, Ms Mwangaza claims that her attempts to build lasting peace among the local leadership have been met with resistance, with various opponents trying to derail her.
Ms Mwangaza is relying on a favourable ruling from the High Court even as members of the county assembly continue with the process of removing her from office.
On Monday, the mover of the motion, Ms Zipporah Kinya (nominated), defied a summons by the ruling party's secretary-general, Cleophas Malala, even as the county assembly held successful public participation forums.
Mr Malala had ordered Ms Kinya to withdraw the motion and report to the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) headquarters in Nairobi on Monday for consultations on the matter.
Imenti South UDA coordinator Douglas Mwebia said they had advised Ms Kinya to ignore the summons because grassroots party leaders had not been consulted on the matter.
Ms Kinya is under pressure from Mr Malala and some 23 MCAs to withdraw the impeachment motion, which they say is ill-timed.
The UDA secretary general has written to Ms Kinya, who is also the deputy majority leader in the county assembly, opposing the party's position.
But Meru senator Kathuri Murungi dismissed Mr Malala's directive to the mover of the motion as unconstitutional.
"The county assembly works within the constitution and a political party has no business telling MCAs not to do their job. If the MCAs are performing their oversight role, no one should stop them. Malala should stay away from county assembly matters," Mr Murungi said.
Meru Assembly Majority Leader Jim Muchui earlier said they were handling UDA party matters internally to allow the motion to proceed.
"We have seen the secretary general's instructions and we are dealing with the matter," he said.
Confirming their determination to ignore Mr Malala's orders, public participation in the impeachment motion went ahead as planned, despite a low turnout.
A spot check on the forums held across the 45 wards indicated that a few residents had attended most of the meetings. The public participation forums kicked off at 10am and ended at 1pm under tight police security.
After public participation, the focus has shifted to affirming whether the numbers needed for the motion to succeed were still in place.
As of Monday evening, the MCAs in support of the motion were still crunching the numbers amid intense lobbying from both camps.
“Currently, the situation is tense. The numbers can go either way. We are working hard to win back those who crossed to the governor’s side,” an MCA who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
The proponents of the motion are now relying on a standing order that prohibits the withdrawal of signatures in support of the motion within the seven-day period to ascertain their numbers.
The clerk is required to produce a list of at least 23 members who support the motion before it is allowed to be debated.
A section of the MCAs leading the charge for Governor Mwangaza's removal expressed confidence that the process would proceed as planned following successful public participation forums.
"There is no going back because we are very strong. We are still on course with the impeachment motion," said deputy speaker Mwenda Ali.
Minority leader Mwenda Ithili said despite 10 MCAs opposing the motion on Sunday, they were still confident of getting the 46 votes needed to impeach the governor.
"Even after the 10 MCAs changed their minds, we still have 46 members on our side. If they could not increase their numbers over the weekend, they will not be able to. In fact, we expect the number of supporters of the motion to increase," said Ithili.
If the forces against the motion manage to persuade the mover to withdraw the notice, it will have to be approved by the whole House.
The Meru County Assembly Standing Orders state that "...notice of a special motion shall not be withdrawn except with the leave of the House".
But if the motion goes ahead as planned, Ms Kinya will need to secure at least 23 signatures in support, which is one-third of the whole house, for the motion to be considered on Thursday.
The MCAs are expected to hear Ms Mwangaza's defence and vote on the motion on Thursday, in compliance with the 10-day legal timeline for dealing with impeachment of governors.
