- Busia Governor Ojaamong says he is not intimidated by impeachment threats
Image: EMOJONG OSERE
Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has asked MCAs to go slow on the impeachment of governors and instead focus on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a thinly veiled defence of Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong, Eugene said impeachment of governors should not be the fashionable thing to do at a time the country is battling the global health pandemic.
Ojaamong is among governors facing the threat of removal from office. Others are Charity Ngilu (Kitui), Salim Mvurya (Kwale) and Wycliffe Wangamati (Bungoma).
Two weeks ago, MCAs impeached Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru but the Senate overturned the removal, saying the accusations were not substantiated.
In Busia, MCAs have said they will impeach Ojaamong for failing to steer development in the border county.
Speaking in Busia on Saturday when he joined Ojaamong in unveiling a new 35-seater bus for the county assembly, Eugene said MCAs should first focus of containing the spread of Covid-19.
"There is a new trend that is happening and it has become very fashionable now to impeach governors and we are seeing more impeachment motions coming. We know of one that the Senate has been determining in Kirinyaga. We are told there is another one in Kitui,” Eugene said.
He added, "All I want to ask as the Cabinet Secretary for Devolution is that it is your (MCAs) constitutional right as county assemblies to oversight the executive. That is a mandate that has been given to you by our Constitution. But when we are facing the coronavirus enemy, I do not think this should be the time when impeachment should be the most fashionable thing to do.”
The CS asked leaders to work together so that the fight against Covid-19 is won.
“Coronavirus is an enemy which we do not know when we will defeat but we know that we need each leader, whether at the national level or the county level to work together so that we can defeat this enemy. In the entire history of our nation, we have never faced an enemy as dangerous as coronavirus,” Eugene said.
The group of Busia MCAs planning to impeach Ojaamong are led by Bukhayo North ward representative Gaddy Jakaa. He claimes there is limited development going on in the county yet the governor is busy touring Western region alongside Eugene and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya preaching politics of unity.
Jakaa last week told the Star he will not be intimidated to abandon his planned impeachment motion. “There is almost nothing going on in the county. The governor should be held accountable for that,” Jakaa said.
Ojaamong has told the MCAs planning his impeachment to abandon the move because it will not sail through the county assembly.
“I have been in politics for the last 30 years. Some of them (MCAs) are less than 10 years in politics. I am not threatened,” Ojaamong said last week after a tour of the Busia County Teaching and Referal Hospital.
Edited by P.O