• Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen petitioned for a special sitting to consider his impeachment.
• Murkomen collected the requisite number of signatures for the petition.
Image: VICTOR IMBOTO
Embattled Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu will know his fate before the end of the month.
This comes after Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen petitioned for a special sitting to consider his impeachment. Murkomen yesterday said he had collected the requisite number of signatures and petitioned Speaker Kenneth Lusaka to convene a sitting on January 21.
“I have received requisite signatures that are necessary for convening a session. We’ve agreed that we are going to have a special sitting of the Senate on January 21 to consider the matter of the impeachment of the governor of Kiambu,” he said.
The House standing orders require either the Majority or Minority leader to petition the speaker to convene a special sitting with the backing of at least a third of the members. Some 63 MCAs — two-thirds of Kiambu MCAs — voted on December 19 to impeach Waititu for alleged gross misconduct and abuse of office.
According to the County Governments Act, the speaker of the Senate shall convene a sitting within seven days after receipt of notice of a resolution of the House from the speaker of the county assembly. As such, the Senate was supposed to convene within seven days after December 19, but Murkomen said the period only applies when the Senate is in session.
“There is a lacuna in law but the law assumes that the Senate is always in session. It is silent on when the House is on recess,” he said.
The Elgeyo Marakwet senator said they will decide whether the whole House will probe the allegations or a special sitting will be convened to listen to the governor and the MCAs before advising the Senate. He said the House will sit again on January 31 to consider the report of the committee if the House decides to form one on January 21. They will establish whether Waititu was accorded an opportunity to defend himself, among other things.
“If the special committee reports that the particulars of any allegation against the governor have not been substantiated, further proceedings shall not be taken under this section in respect of that allegation... but if substantiated, the Senate shall, after according the governor an opportunity to be heard, vote on the impeachment charges,” the Act reads.
However, in a letter to Lusaka, Waititu protested his impeachment, saying it was flawed and done unprocedurally. He claimed the House did not have requisite numbers to impeach him.
“From the commencement, the assembly did not have the requisite statutory quorum at any particular time. The number of members of the assembly is 92, thus statutory quorum required under Section 33( 2 ) of the County Governments Act to pass such a special motion is 62 members,” he said in the letter.
Since 2013, Waitutu will be the fifth governor the senators will be determining his fate. However, only one case, that of Embu Governor Martin Wambora, has been successful. But Wambora did not leave office due to court orders. Late last year, the Senate rejected the impeachment of Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja for lack of enough evidence. The Senate has also saved governors Paul Chepkwony (Kericho), Mwangi wa Iria (Murang’a) and former Machakos Deputy Governor Bernard Kiala.