The Meru County Assembly has tabled a notice of motion to impeach Governor Kawira Mwangaza, the third such attempt against the first-time governor.
Zipporah Kinya, a nominated member and the Deputy Majority Leader, presented the impeachment motion on Wednesday.
The motion accuses Mwangaza of abuse of office and misappropriation of county resources.
According to the notice, Mwangaza has persisted in “discreditable acts” that violate national and county laws, which have “exposed the Office of the Governor, the Office of the Deputy Governor, the Assembly and its leadership, and the people of Meru County to national shame, scandal, embarrassment, ridicule, and disgrace.”
The accusations against Mwangaza include:
- Failure to appoint chairpersons of various boards, such as the Meru County Revenue Board and the Meru Microfinance Corporation.
- Illegal revocation of the appointment of Virginia Miriti as the county secretary without a vote of at least 75% of all the Meru MCAs.
- Paying emergency call allowances to 161 doctors and medical officers using the wrong rates, leading to excessive payments of KSh. 74.3 million.
- Using a manual payroll to pay personnel emoluments amounting to KSh. 102.9 million.
- Employing a “bloated workforce of at least 111 personal staff” in her office, contributing to a spike in the wage bill by over KSh. 500 million.
- Paying a staff member in her office his full salary and benefits while he was in remand over a murder case.
The Deputy Majority Leader, Zipporah Kinya, argues that reconciliation efforts have been fruitless and that Mwangaza’s continued stay in office has “persistently undermined effective and efficient service delivery and gravely hurt the interests of the people of the county.”
This is the third impeachment bid against Governor Mwangaza. In November 2022, she survived her second impeachment attempt after a majority of the 47 senators failed to uphold any of the seven charges brought against her by the Meru County Assembly.
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