Samboja suffers blow in bid to block Senate from probing his ouster

The Senate could uphold the impeachment of Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja after he failed to respond to charges levelled against him by MCAs.

Samboja, through lawyer Nelson Havi, yesterday pulled out of the proceedings of a special Senate committee probing his ouster by the county assembly after the panel rejected his objections to the process.

The ward reps impeached the county boss on October 9, after months of intense feuding over ward development fund cash.

Samboja snubbed an invitation by the Senate committee, where he was expected to defend himself against the charges. He also failed to file written responses and instead sent Havi, who vehemently opposed the proceedings and faulted the committee for violating a court order and the House Standing Orders.

Havi said his client was not in a position to appear before the panel or file written a response because of the injunction. He told the committee that the county assembly did not serve the governor with the particulars of the charges.

The lawyer said his client would have violated the order he sought after the county assembly failed to give him an opportunity to defend himself prior to the ouster.

“The same orders were served on the clerk of the Senate, stopping the House from investigating the grounds raised by the county assembly,” Havi said.

The lawyer argued that the Senate would be violating its own Standing Order No 98 (2) that bars the House from transacting a matter before a court of law.

“In light of these issues, the prudent thing for the Senate to do is to stay proceedings until the petition is concluded,” Havi said.

However, the committee, through chairman Njeru Ndwiga (Embu), dismissed the objections, forcing Havi to pull out of the proceedings.

Ndwiga cited the County Government Act and the Senate Standing Order that give the committee the mandate to probe the impeachment.

“Taking into account the mandate of the Special Committee as set out in Section 33 of the County Governments Act, 2012, and Standing Order 75 of the Senate Standing Orders, and further taking into account the directive by the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, the Special Committee dismisses the preliminary objection and resolves to proceed with the hearing in accordance with the hearing programme,” Ndwiga said.

"In this case, the committee is required to record the non-appearance and proceed without further reference to the absent party."

Yesterday, MCAs, through lawyer Charles Njenga, submitted to the seven grounds that informed the impeachment. They accused Samboja of gross misconduct and violation of the law and the Constitution "misappropriation of funds contrary to Section 196 of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012".

Njenga said Samboja misappropriated funds through expenditure on unbudgeted projects, the formation of unwarranted task forces, stalled projects and failure to prudently implement development budget.

The Senate committee retreats to write a report and will recommend whether he should be removed from office. The report will be tabled and debated in the House tomorrow.

(Edited by F'Orieny)