- Esise Ward MCA Josiah Mang'era (ODM) moved the notice of motion last week.
- The motion must be supported by two-thirds of the 34 MCAs of the Assembly.
Image: FILE
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) party has directed its Members of the Nyamira County Assembly to shoot down an impeachment motion against Governor Amos Nyaribo.
In a statement, the party warned that it would take disciplinary action against any party MCA who will defy the party position and vote in favour of the motion.
"The party hereby directs all the UPA party members of the Nyamira County Assembly to oppose and/or shoot down the motion for removal from office of H.E Amos Kimwomi Nyaribo, the Governor Nyamira County Government," reads the statement in part.
"Kindly note that the directives issued herein are the party position issues pursuant to Article 4.5.1 (v) of the UPA constitution.''
The party warned that any member of the party who appends his signature to the motion, supports the same, advocates for the same and votes in favour of the motion ''shall be deemed to have breached Article 4.5.1(v) of the UPA constitution.
"...the member shall be liable for disciplinary action contemplated for under Article 4.6.1 of the UPA constitution which calls for termination of membership,'" reads the statement signed by UP secretary-general Jacob Bagaka.
The motion for the removal from office of Nyaribo will be debated on Tuesday after Esise Ward MCA Josiah Mang'era (ODM) moved the notice of motion last week.
At least two-thirds of the MCAs must vote in support of the motion for it to sail through. 28 MCA signed for the motion.
There are 20 elected MCAs in Nyamira County Assembly but following the death of Nyamaiya MCA Elija Osiemo, there are only 19.
The Assembly has 15 nominated ward representatives, making a total of 34 MCAs who will participate in the motion.
This means that the motion must be supported by 24 MCAs for Nyaribo's removal from office to succeed.
Nyaribo is the UPA party leader and is allied to Raila Odinga's Azimio la Umoja coalition.
Nyamira Members of the County Assembly have laid bare nine grounds supporting their motion to impeach Governor Nyaribo.
The governor succeeded John Nyagarama, who died while in office and went on to win the 2022 general elections.
The MCAs on Tuesday claimed that they have a solid case against the governor as they tabled their notice of motion for his impeachment.
The MCAs claim that the governor oversaw the appointment of a director of human resource management and a human resource officer.
They argued that the vetting process did not comply with legal requirements.
On ignoring court orders, the MCAs claim that Governor Nyaribo disobeyed court orders nullifying the appointment of the two officers aforementioned.
They further allege that he also defied court orders by appointing a County Executive Committee Member for Environment, Water and Natural Resources.
On non-compliance with the Minimum Development Expenditure Act, the MCAs allege that the governor oversaw the implementation of an illegal budget that deprived the people of Nyamira of essential public goods and services to the tune of Sh444.5 million.
On abuse of office, the MCAs accuse Nyaribo of illegally dismissing the CEO of the Nyamira County Public Service Board and illegally reassigning the role of accounting officer of the County Public Service Board.
Among other things, the MCAs allege that the governor released empty containers disguised as medical drugs and deliberately delayed the completion of the Nyamira County headquarters.
The MCAs also claimed that the governor abused his power by overseeing an unjust and unfair taxation system through failure to collect outstanding land tax arrears, failure to update the county’s valuation roll, and nepotism and favouritism through the appointment of his niece— a junior accountant, as head of accounting services.
In supporting the ground, the MCAs claim that on May 2, 2023, during an active recruitment exercise by the County Public Service Board, the Governor ''illegally and unilaterally suspended the CEO of the County Public Service Board from her office.''
''The suspension was not notified to the County Assembly for consensus and/or approval contrary to Section 58(5) of the County Governments Act (2012) and Article 251 of the Constitution of Kenya (2010),'' the motion reads in part.