Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi is faced with a moment of truth as MPs convene today for a special sitting to determine his future.
The select committee hearing the impeachment motion is expected to table its report in today’s special sitting of the National Assembly.
“I have appointed Monday, May 13 at 2.30pm as the day and time for a special sitting of the House to receive the report of the said select committee,” Speaker Moses Wetang’ula said in a notification to MPs.
“That the clerk is directed to circulate this notification to all members of the National Assembly, prepare the necessary messages for formal conveyance to the House and make all necessary arrangements to facilitate the special sitting.”
If the team chaired by Marsabit Woman MP Naomi Waqo says the charges against the embattled CS as spelled by Bumula MP Jack Wanami hold, the motion will be taken to a vote in plenary.
At least 176 members will be required to support the decision of the committee, without which the motion will fall.
But if the committee concludes that Linturi has no case to answer, the matter will draw to a close without any further debate.
It is understood that the Cabinet Secretary might as well survive the impeachment after a majority of the members reportedly gave indications they will vote to defeat the motion.
Sources intimated that unless something changes overnight, the majority will carry the day, further indicating that the minority side was writing a dissenting report.
Some insiders, however, stated it is best to adopt a wait-and-see approach, citing high stakes in the ouster bid.
“I think it is safe to wait for the report of the committee. This is a political process and anything can pop-up, even at the final hour,” a key political player told the Star.
Seven members voted against Wamboka's bid to bring two more witnesses during a recent vote.
If that pattern is to repeat itself in the final vote, then Linturi's case is argued to be going nowhere.
Wamboka, the motion mover, on Friday expressed his reservations with the committee.
“There are so many ways to kill a rat. Some would use poison. Some would burn the house. I would sit on the rat and it would die,” he said.
The MP hinted at pursuing other avenues to prosecute his case, saying he was glad to have tried much but he may not succeed in his quest to oust the minister.
The opposition, which largely voted to approve the Linturi motion, said the report of the committee to the extent of saving the CS will be inconsequential – just in case.
Minority leader Opiyo Wandayi told the Star on Sunday that much as they were waiting for the verdict of the committee, MPs had spoken ‘loud during the vote’.
“Whereas we are waiting, the National Assembly spoke loudly and clearly when it voted 159 against 36. That was a vote of no confidence on the Cabinet Secretary,” Wandayi said.
The motion has not been without intrigues, especially after the majority side endorsed members who had voted to reject it in the first instance.
Six of the 11-member team said no when the House was deciding whether the motion was substantive or not.
Committee chairperson Waqo was among those who voted to reject the ouster bid.
Those in the team that also rejected the motion include Tharaka MP Gitonga Murugara, Malava’s Malulu Injendi, Racheal Nyamai of Kitui South, Kirinyaga Woman MP Njeri Maina and Kassim Tandaza of Matuga constituency.
Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkonga was not in the House during the vote and is argued to have given the team the seventh vote during the decision on admitting more witnesses.
A number of MPs raised concerns about the composition of the committee but were warned of time constraints in consideration of an impeachment motion.
Reports indicate that the issues of Linturi’s past love affair with Aldai MP Maryanne Kitany, which played out prominently in the hearings may have been the poisoned chalice in Wamboka's ouster bid.
Observers privy to the back-end machinations told the Star that the matter [of love affair] “reduced the motion into a personal vendetta hence malicious.”
During the hearing, Linturi maintained he was innocent of the charges of distributing fake fertiliser, abuse of procurement law and misleading Parliament.
Other charges were that he was arrogant and had no good public standing owing to his messy divorce with Maryanne and other cases he has battled in court over the years.
The CS said the cases were all ruled in his favour and that at no point did he interfere with the procurement processes at the Agriculture ministry.
