Economic bloc wants an end of Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza row with MCAs
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga speaks during a prayer meeting with members of the clergy from the Mt Kenya region on November 23, 2022. He has called for an end of a row between Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza and Members of County Assembly.
The Central Region Economic Bloc (CEREB) has called for an end of war between Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza and Members of County Assembly.
Chairperson Mutahi Kahiga said Ms Mwangaza and the MCAs should instead iron out their differences through dialogue and embrace unity.
Prolonged infighting between the legislature and the executive in the devolved unit, the The Nyeri governor warned, would deny locals development.
“On behalf of CEREB, I am requesting MCAs and the governor to work for the people of Meru. What residents want is development but not fights. We want the mountain to speak in one voice and that should also be replicated in Meru,” Mr Kahiga said.
Mr Kahiga addressed the media on Friday at his Nyeri office where he hosted former Kieni MP Kanini Kega for talks.
He appealed to Meru leaders to hold reconciliation talks and shun divisive politics.
“That fight will certainly drag that county behind in terms of development. I am pleading with the leadership of Meru county to hold reconciliation talks because we are running against time to work for our people,” said the second-term governor.
“Leadership comes from God and you are in a position to iron out your issues no matter how difficult they are,” he added.
Impeachment motion
On Thursday, Governor Mwangaza moved to court, seeking to bar the MCAs from debating an impeachment motion against her set for next Wednesday.
Ms Mwangaza asked Meru High Court to grant her conservatory orders suspending the tabling, debating and considering and or acting upon the impeachment motion dated November 21, by MCAs.
She also sought conservatory orders prohibiting the respondents from discussing, debating or in any way whatsoever dealing with the impeachment motion against her.
She claims the orders would "curtail any further infringement and derail a sham process which is maliciously carried out in a surreptitious manner, constituting a flagrant subversion of the constitution and the majority will of the residents of Meru County".
Ms Mwangaza says she was popularly elected as a governor of Meru by a vast majority of voters and the residents had a legitimate expectation that she would serve a full term of five years.
The governor says that soon after assuming office, she and the MCAs were involved in tussles over the ward development fund.
They held a consultative meeting attended by Ms Mwangaza, the Controller of Budget (COB), and the county assembly leadership whereby the COB dismissed the fund as an illegality.
She claims that the fund was her source of tribulations facing her because soon after, she was invited to respond and appear before the assembly for the motion of impeachment.
Ms Mwangaza dismissed the framing of the motion of impeachment indicting her with flouting the Employment Act since the matter in question was still pending before the Employment and Labour Relations Court at Meru.
She said the action amounted to sub judice and a violation of county assembly standing order number 90 and is tantamount to interference of the independence of the judiciary.
