Makueni County Assembly members on Thursday voted in favour of a motion to impeach Governor Kivutha Kibwana.
MCAs voted 35 to 10 in favour of the motion to impeach Kibwana on allegations of abuse of office and corruption.
The Senate will now decide on the Governor’s fate. The motion to impeach Kibwana was tabled despite a last minute decision by the assembly to defer the tabling of the motion to Wednesday after MCA’s led by speaker Stephen Ngelu met the County Assemblies’ Forum subcommittee picked to reconcile them with Kibwana.
Kibwana had began collecting signatures to dissolve the county government as MCA’s made threats to impeach him.
As Ngelu accepted the deferment of the impeachment motion, Kibwana said he has power to withdraw the petition to dissolve the county as it is in the hands of the people.
“A leader cannot bully the people by doing things against their will. The fate of the petition and that of elected and nominated leaders is in the hands of the people of Makueni,†he posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
“I’m not fearing impeachment if the Makueni county assembly has legitimate reasons to do so. If I have violated the constitution, I deserve no mercy.â€
Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau commented on Kibwana’s post: “There is no turning back, the Makueni peoples’ assembly will decide the way forward. I support the governor and the people of Makueni.â€
Fifteen MCAs from Kajiado, Kwale and Busia counties arrived in Wote town, the county headquarters, on Tuesday to reconcile the factions.
Subcommittee chairman Johnson Osoi, who is Kajiado county speaker, Thursday said his effort to meet Kibwana had not borne fruit.
He said he hopes to meet him by the end of the week. “It is in the interest of the people Makueni that the executive and the legislature drop their hardline stands.
We are pleading with Kibwana to withdraw the signature collection because MCAs have dropped the impeachment motion,†Osoi said on the phone.
The Star