• The MCAs have prepared an impeachment motion against the governor, accusing her breaching the law, fiscal impropriety, abuse of office and conflict of interest.
• Ngilu denies wrongdoing and obtained a court injunction blocking the MCAs from debating the motion in the county assembly.
Image: Musembi Nzengu
A political battle pitting Governor Charity Ngilu and Kitui MCAs has caused tension in the running of the county’s affairs.
The MCAs have prepared an impeachment motion against the governor, accusing her breaching the law, fiscal impropriety, abuse of office and conflict of interest.
Ngilu denies wrongdoing and obtained a court injunction blocking the MCAs from debating the motion in the county assembly.
The county chief believes her woes are engineered by the leadership of the Wiper Democratic Party, which controls the assembly.
Ngilu and her supporters feel that her intended removal is malicious and unjustified.
Kitui Assembly Majority leader Peter Kilonzo who sponsored the motion has promised to proceed with it, once the court process is over. The impeachment motion was signed by 39 MCAs.
The parties in the suit filed by Ngilu will meet on Monday, July 6, and Kilonzo is upbeat the assembly and speaker George Ndotto will prevail. He termed the injunction a lull before a storm.
The MCAs accuse Ngilu of contravening the Constitution and the County Governments Act by disregarding Senate summonses to answer to audit queries on the use of up to Sh20 billion allocated to Kitui in 2017 and 2018.
The governor is further accused of conflict of interest and abuse of office in the purchase of a stationary stone crusher plant at a price of Sh85,305,490.09 from a firm linked with her son.
Despite the installation tender having been awarded to the EDN George Diesel Ltd, Kilonzo says that the county irregularly deployed its employees in May to improve the works at the crusher.
Ngilu is further accused of influencing the award of tender worth Sh105 million to a company allegedly owned by one of her relatives. The firm involved was allegedly probed in 2010 for conflict of interest for tenders won when Ngilu was Water minister.
The governor is further accused of failing to sack the Trade, Cooperatives and Investments CEC Philip Mumo despite impeachment by the assembly. Mumo allegedly used fake degree papers to get the job.
The MCAs also say Ngilu unlawfully hired county secretary Joshua Chepchieng without the approval of the assembly as stipulated in law.
The ward reps also say Ngilu failed to appoint a substantive Health executive for over two years. A CT scan bought at more than Sh100 million by the county allegedly lies idle at Kitui Referral Hospital as residents seek services in private facilities. These acts, the MCAs say, violate the residents’ right to healthcare.
Ngilu is further cited for gross violation of the constitutional two thirds gender rule on appointments. According to Kilonzo, Ngilu is the only woman in her Executive Committee with six men. She is also accused of violation of the Income Tax Act by failing to remit statutory deduction to the Kenya Revenue Authority
Supporting the governor’s impeachment, the Kitui Assembly Majority Whip Stephen Musili said Ngilu had not done any meaningful development work in her term.
“It is for lack of development that we feel having Governor Ngilu at the helm of the county for the next two years will be unbearable and people will suffer more for lack of development. It is time we salvaged the situation by showing her the door,” Musili said in an interview.
But Ngilu sees the Wiper party hierarchy’s hand in the attempt to remove her from office.
She has said that during her early days in office and at her inauguration, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka had promised her a rough time if she “failed to cooperate.”
Image: Musembi Nzengu
On Wednesday Ngilu said the MCAs were acting on orders from Wiper Party. She spoke on Maisha radio during the Bunge la Maisha programme.
“They have firm instructions to impeach me. If that was not the case, they could have called me to a round table meeting where we could agree on rectifying whatever they found amiss. Their singular agenda is to impeach me as per instructions,” Ngilu said.
It was not the first time Ngilu was pointing an accusing finger at Kalonzo.
A couple of weeks ago, Kilonzo and Musili asked Ngilu to stop dragging Kalonzo’s name whenever she felt besieged but instead resign.
“If Ngilu has found the going tough she should just resign so that the county can get a more efficient governor to run it,” Musili said.
Image: Musembi Nzengu
Kilonzo said MCAs were intelligent people who did not have to take instructions from any quarters to accomplish their oversight mandate.
The leadership of Ngilu’s Narc party feels that the acrimony between the governor and Kitui MCAs has become unbearable. The only way out is to have the Kitui administration dissolved, the party says.
Narc national chairman Miltonic Kimanzi has called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to begin the process of dissolving the county government. Kimanzi said at a recent press conference that Ngilu and the MCAs had become incompatible, to the detriment of residents.
He told journalists that the MCAs were obsessed with undermining Ngilu’s leadership to the extent that she was unable to deliver on her mandate.
“The MCAs have been shooting down and failing to approve Ngilu’s budgets and development plans,” Kimanzi said.
(edited by o. owino)