Karungo Thang’wa to IEBC: Who impeached me?

The nominee of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party for Kiambu Senate seat Karungo Thang’wa has mocked decision of the electoral commission to block him from the polls over claims that he is unsuitable to hold a public office.

Mr Thang’wa yesterday also dismissed claims by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) that he was locked out for returning his clearance documents outside the statutory timelines.

While appearing before an elections’ committee disputes tribunal at Milimani Law Courts, Mr Thang’wa scoffed at claims by the IEBC that he is ineligible because he was impeached from office of Kiambu county government executive committee on alleged gross misconduct.

He explained that he was neither impeached nor removed from office and that decision of the IEBC is erroneous.

“The decision of the IEBC was based on an erroneous impression that Mr Thang’wa was removed from office after a purported resolution of the county assembly. We have put evidence to show that he was never removed from the office,” said his advocates.

They stated that he ceased to work as a member of the Kiambu County Government Executive Committee following impeachment of former governor Ferdinand Waititu in January 2020.

Although the County Assembly resolved to have him removed from office in November 2019, the committee heard that then governor Mr Waititu refused to act on that resolution.

This was because there was an order from the Labour Relations stopping removal of Mr Thangw’a and decision of the county assembly was in contempt of court, the advocates said.

The committee further heard that the alleged impeachment of Mr Thang’wa notwithstanding, he continued drawing salary from the county government until January 2020 when Mr Waititu was impeached by Senate.

“From the time the purported resolution of removing Mr Thang’wa was made, he remained in office. We are also drawing a distinction between impeachment and removal from office. The removal of a CEC is through a proposal by members of the county assembly and is acted upon by the governor. In this case the governor did not act on the proposed removal,” the advocates said.

The committee in addition heard that the IEBC’s Kiambu county returning officer rejected Mr Thang’wa’s nomination papers without granting him a hearing.

On late submission of the nomination papers, the committee heard that there was a court order issued on May 25, 2022 baring IEBC from receiving his papers. He returned them on June 7 after a three-judge bench of the High Court lifted the order.

“He was not given a chance to demonstrate that he was qualified to vie for the senate seat. Had he been granted a hearing, we would not be here,” said the lawyers.

But the returning officer, Arnold Mutwiri, said his decision to reject Mr Thang’wa’s nomination papers was based on the communique issued by the IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati where the aspirant was listed as ineligible.

Mr Mutwiri added that Mr Thang’wa returned his papers on June 7 at 6.30pm while the gazette notice issued by the IEBC required senate aspirants to be cleared latest on May 29.

“Mr Thang’wa came at 6.30pm. I told him as the county returning officer I had no powers to decide on matters that were beyond me. I told him there was an issue with his suitability and there was a communique from my chairman (Wafula Chebukati). It was not a communique from the streets,” said Mr Mutwiri.

The disputes tribunal will rule on the matter on Saturday, June 18, at 2.30pm.