• Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen on Monday said he had petitioned Speaker Kenneth Lusaka and notified Minority Leader James Orengo of the sitting.
Image: EZEKIEL AMINGA
The Senate will have a sitting on January 21 to discuss Kiambu Governor Ferdinard Waititu's impeachement.
Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen on Monday said he had petitioned Speaker Kenneth Lusaka and notified Minority Leader James Orengo of the sitting.
The House will convene again on January 31 to consider the report of a committee that will be tasked with probing the charges levelled against the county chief.
Some 63 MCAs – two-thirds of the members of the Kiambu county assembly – voted on December 19 to impeach Waititu for alleged gross misconduct and abuse of office.
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 government’s act to pass such a special motion is 62 members,” he said in the letter.
Section 33 of the County Governments Act, which stipulates the procedure for impeachment of a governor, states that the county assembly speaker shall, within two days of the House impeaching a governor, notify the speaker of the Senate, in writing.
Within seven days of the receipt of notice of a resolution of the House from the speaker of the county assembly, the speaker of the senate is required to convene a meeting of the senate to hear the charges against the governor.
The Senate, by resolution, may appoint a special committee comprising 11 members to investigate the matter. At this point, the committee may invite the governor and the county assembly to argue our cases.
“A special committee appointed under investigate the matter and report to the Senate within ten days on whether it finds the particulars of the allegations against the Governor to have been substantiated,” the Act states.
Waitutu will be the fifth governor the senators will be determining their fate following their impeachment of their county assemblies since the advent of devolution.
However, only 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 senators have also saved Governors Paul Chepkwony (Kericho), Mwangi Wairia (Murang’a) and former Machakos Deputy Governor Bernard Kiala.
“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; have been substantiated, the Senate shall, after according the Governor an opportunity to be heard, vote on the impeachment charges,” it adds.