- More trouble for Governor Okoth Obado as his ODM party directs his impeachment a day after he was released on bond by anti-graft court.
- ODM top leadership and Migori MCAs on Tuesday resolved to remove the governor from office, citing the graft charges facing the county boss.
Out of the frying pan into the fire describes Migori Governor Okoth Obado's situation.
A day after he was freed on bond in a graft case on Monday, the embattled county chief is now fighting impeachment.
ODM, his sponsoring party, directed his removal from office after a long meeting with MCAs on Tuesday, citing the graft charges he is facing.
ODM chairman John Mbadi told journalists they had to make the tough decision as having him stay in office would betray the party’s position in the war against corruption.
Mbadi said Obado's bail terms technically make it impossible for the governor to carry out his constitutional mandate.
“We have consulted with the MCAs and we need to take a painful decision to have the Migori governor impeached,” Mbadi said.
“MCAs are going to take steps to have the governor impeached. We know it is not going to be easy. Why hold the county at ransom when you can’t be able to discharge your duty?” Mbadi asked.
The meeting that started at 1pm and went into the evening was attended by 37 out of 41 ODM legislators.
The Suba South MP noted that they were on the horns of a dilemma - o have the deputy governor act or opt for removal. They resolved, however, to follow the removal route given that an acting deputy governor would be a lame duck in making critical decisions.
“The DG has been denied access and even [his] official vehicle has been taken away,” Mbadi said.
Nelson Mahanga is media-shy and was picked to be Obado’s deputy in 2013 by elders of his minority Kuria community running on the little-known Peoples Democratic Party ticket.
If the censure and impeachment motion against Obado prevails, then the minority Kuria community would have its first opportunity to produce a governor, something that has been a tall order given their numbers.
Out of the eight constituencies in Migori, the Kuria community only occupies two —Kuria East and West.
The resolution to have Obado impeached was, however, not unanimous as the Star established that a section of the MCAs was opposed to what they termed coercion by the party. They instead asked for more time to consider the matter.
Some MCAs who talked to the Star claimed the governor’s perceived close links with Deputy President William Ruto and past rebellion against the ODM leadership have come back to haunt him.
The MCAS met in Nairobi for what was termed development consultative meeting, but Obado said it was an impeachment drive amid mounting legal woes.
Obado directly accused ODM of plotting to impeach him before 2022.
Speaking extensively during a popular vernacular radio talk show, Obado accused ODM of acting in bad faith, citing the Tuesday summoning of all Migori MCAs that he called politically instigated.
The architects of the impeachment, he claimed, met last Sunday and discussed it at length.
“Since 2013, there is no day Migori MCAs have been summoned [by the party] for a meeting. It only happens after the Sunday meeting,” Obado said.
“They think if I stay (as governor) for the next two years, then I will go to Sugoi [Deputy President William Ruto home]. There is a person who is pushing this divisive agenda,” he said.
Obado, while he was still a director at the old Kenya Sugar Board, is said to have forged a close alliance with Ruto, who was then the Agriculture minister, a label that has dogged him for a long time.
Obado was first elected on the PDP ticket in 2013 but decamped to ODM ahead of the 2017 polls.
But on November 2018, after being charged with the murder of his girlfriend Sharon Otieno, who was pregnant with their son - and defying ODM's pick of Senator Ochilo Ayacko in a by-election - Obado hosted Ruto in defiance.
He hosted Ruto twice in Migori and hinted an alliance with the DP. He further attacked the ODM leadership, leader Raila Odinga and his handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta before retreating back to the party fold.
Since then, he has been treated with suspicion.
The tag of being a Ruto’s man locked him out of Raila and ODM's inner circles.
The former teacher has, however, said there is no vacancy in Migori and the anti-graft court did not bar him from discharging his constitutional mandate as the elected governor.
“I will be discharging all of my constitutional mandate as an elected governor. The court only barred me from accessing my office and an office is one room. I can have meetings in several places,” he said.
He described as wishful thinking the push to remove him, saying he has faith in the Migori Assembly and "their ability to make mature and independent decision without being coerced by any external force".
Edited by EKibii