Four face the sack as rows rock Wilbur Ottichilo’s leadership
Governor of Vihiga Wilber Ottichilo during a past press conference.
They say that when it rains, it pours. This seems to be the reality of politics in Vihiga County, where brinkmanship has left the devolved unit teetering on the brink of dissolution.
On Sunday, two petitioners launched a surprise bid to dissolve the county government, citing six grounds, among them corruption and failure by the assembly to hold Governor Wilbur Ottichilo to account.
Governor Ottichilo is battling another petition at the Kisumu High Court that seeks to declare him unfit to hold public office.
But, even as the petition by former county secretary Francis Ominde and Mr Joseph Simekha seeking 28,000 signatures in a bid to persuade President Kenyatta to dissolve the county government gathers pace, Speaker Hasna Mudeizi has called a special sitting on Thursday for the 38-member House to impeach four county executive committee (CEC) members.
Facing impeachment
CECs Pamela Kimwele (Public Service), Amos Kutwa (Health), Paul Mbuni (Lands) and Kenneth Keseko (Trade) are facing impeachment on charges of abuse of office and gross misconduct. Reacting to the development, Mr Ominde and Mr Simekha accused the MCAs of being used by the executive to target CECs who don’t hail from the governor’s Bunyore sub-tribe. The Nation has established that the MCAs met yesterday to discuss how to prevail on Mr Simekha and Mr Ominde to drop the petition.
An MCA privy to the meeting told the Nation in confidence that the assembly may now get tough on Dr Ottichilo following the shock petition that could cut short their terms in office should it sail through.
Mr Simekha and Mr Ominde, however, insisted that the assembly “is part of the latest manifestation of the crisis unfolding in Vihiga County” following the move to impeach four CECs “in a well-calculated plan”.
“Special sittings are convened to discuss urgent business of concern. Impeaching four CECs at once confirms that there is a crisis in the county executive under the leadership of the governor,” Mr Simekha said.
Three days’ notice
“The assembly,” he added, “is being summoned before evidence that a notice of motion for impeachment has been introduced by an MCA and the requisite three days’ notice given before it is acted upon.”
The two petitioners termed the move a dangerous turn in the governor’s campaign of profiling people from the Maragoli and Tiriki sub-tribes, which, they further claimed, is intended to show that it is the Maragoli and Tiriki who are the problem.
An ad hoc committee report cited the four CECs for gross misconduct and “unfit to hold office”. It further recommended their impeachment.
“What if they had investigated all 10 CECs?” Mr Simekha and Mr Ominde posed. The committee challenged Dr Ottichilo to take control and avert conflict among top officials.
