• Ndegwa is expected to defend himself in a special sitting set for December 24
• His impeachment motion is set to be debated in a special sitting following a gazette notice by deputy speaker Zackary Njeru.
Image: NDICHU WAINAINA
Embattled Nyandarua speaker Wahome Ndegwa will know his fate on Thursday, a day before Christmas.
His impeachment motion is set to be debated in a special sitting following a gazette notice by deputy speaker Zackary Njeru.
Ndegwa is expected to defend himself against accusations of gross violation of the Constitution, gross misconduct and incompetence.
In the gazette notice released on December 16, all members of staff, including the clerk, have to be present on the said date.
“By the powers conferred on me by Section 9A of the County Government Act (Revised Edition 2020) and Standing Order No. 15 and 30 of the Nyandarua County Assembly Standing Orders, it is ordered that the clerk and all staff of the Nyandarua County Assembly be present at their places of work on Thursday 24th December,2020 by 8 am when a special sitting of the Assembly shall be held,” the notice read in part
The notice further gives the speaker seven days to respond in writing and to be present on the said date to respond taaao the allegations raised against him.
Ndegwa’s troubles escalated after the High Court in Nyahururu ordered him to reopen assembly premises following a petition by Njeru.
Nyahururu High Court judge Justice Charles Kariuki issued the interim orders directing Ndegwa immediately reopens the county assembly offices and cease and/or desist from interfering with Njeru's activities in performing his functions and roles to oversee the impeachment motion.
Justice Kariuki ordered that the case be heard inter parties on December 28.
Twenty-five out of 39 Nyandarua MCAs have signed an impeachment notification notice against Ndegwa.
On Wednesday, MCAs who had gone to serve an impeachment notice to clerk Mukiri Muchiri were shocked when they found the assembly premises locked.
They were forced to pin the notice on the entrance wall.
Majority leader Edinald King’ori on Thursday evening told journalists that MCAs are determined to “finish the job”.
The troubles bedeviling Ndegwa further aggravated on Thursday after King'ori petitioned the EACC to investigate him over what he termed as “ethical and corruption offences.”
The speaker is being impeached over allegations of conflict of interest, where he allegedly influenced an employee of his law firm to be employed as a member of County Assembly Service Board, and the hiring of his relatives as county employees.
Other allegations are that in 2013-14, he paid himself Sh660,000 from county coffers in respect of hiring a car that belonged to him at Sh12,000 per day for 55 days.
The Subaru Station Wagon 200 cc car hire rate, King’ori said, is Sh3,000 per day in Nairobi.
The fourth allegation is usurping the role of accounting officer where he allegedly appointed himself signatory to two bank accounts in SBM and Equity banks.
He is further accused of receiving a kickback from the Sh450 million assembly office complex y under construction.