Uhuru, Raila to use senate to save Waiguru – Weekly Citizen

The battle to save Kirinyaga governor Anne Waiguru from ouster by MCAs over graft allegations has now been taken over by Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga.
The two leaders who consider the governor a key cog to the success of the stalled Building Bridges Initiative, are now plotting to have the motion shot down in the senate should MCAs make good their threat to remove her.

President Uhuru and former PM Raila

Insiders say Interior principal secretary Karanja Kibicho, who has not been seeing eye-to-eye with Waiguru, has also been ordered by Uhuru to stop undermining the governor or else he loses his job.
The warning came at a time Kibicho had won the support of MPs Wangui Ngirici (woman rep), Kabinga Wachira (Mwea), Gichimu Githinji (Gichugu), John Wambugu (Kirinyaga Central) and George Kariuki (Ndia) who the PS bankrolled to hold a press conference to tell the governor to carry her own cross.
In their press briefing, the MPs also cautioned the Kirinyaga county commissioner and Jubilee Party to stop interfering with the impeachment process.
Ngirici, an archrival of the governor, cautioned her to allow all the means provided by the constitution to take course and to stop fighting the MCAs because it might be interpreted to mean she is guilty of the allegations levelled against her.
Waiguru, who was forced out of her cabinet secretary post in 2015 by the National Youth Service scandal, has been accused of massive corruption and heading a criminal enterprise aimed at defrauding the county coffers.

Kibicho and Ann Mumbi

The governor is accused of paying fictitious companies millions of shillings for no work done with claims that company associated with her family has been paid millions of shillings for supplying air at Kerugoya Referral Hospital.
She has also been accused of pocketing Sh10 million in imprest for no travel undertaken.
But the governor has dismissed the accusations as pedestrian and accused the MCAs of playing politics.
According to sources, Uhuru and Raila are banking on their numerical strength in the senate to defeat the bid to impeach Waiguru should it land there. The two leaders enjoy the support of the majority of the senators as was evidenced by the impeachment of former Kiambu governor Ferdinand Ndung’u Waititu.
Indeed, Waiguru has indirectly accused William Ruto of being behind her planned ouster due to her firm support for BBI and her emerging role as the Mount Kenya political torchbearer after Uhuru.

According to the constitution, once a county assembly impeaches a governor, the assembly speaker informs the speaker of the senate within two days in writing, referring to the county assembly resolution passed to impeach the governor.
The governor continues to perform the functions of the office pending the outcome of the impeachment process.
The speaker of the senate then convenes a meeting to hear the charges the county assembly brought against the governor.

The senate, by a determination, then appoints a special committee comprising eleven of its members to investigate the matter or in the alternative the whole house hears the matter and votes to impeach or dismiss the claims.
Insiders say Uhuru and Raila have reached out to senators who backed Waititu’s impeachment to frustrate Waiguru’s ouster should the matter land in their hands.
Uhuru and Raila believe that Ruto is behind the Kirinyaga’s governor planned ouster as he tries to ring-fence the Mount Kenya voting bloc ahead of the 2022 polls.
In Waititu’s case, 28 senators allied to Uhuru and Raila voted to impeach him defeating 11 allied to the deputy president.

Those who voted to remove Waititu and are expected to block Waiguru’s ouster are Mwashushe Mwaruma (Taita), Mwinyi Faki (Mombasa), Moses Kajwang’ (Homa Bay), Njeru Ndwiga (Embu), Ledama Olekina (Narok), Samson Ongeri (Kisii), James Orengo (Siaya), Samuel Poghisio (West Pokot), Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi), Margaret Jepkoech (Uasin Gishu), Amos Wako (Busia), Enock Wambua (Kitui), George Khaniri (Vihiga), Mwadzayo Mwachirifu (Kilifi), Cleopas Malala (Kakamega), Okong’o Mogeni (Nyamira), Gideon Moi (Baringo), Boniface Kabaka (Machakos), Reubenson Kibiru (Kirinyaga), Adan Fatuma (Isiolo), Mutula Kilonzo (Makueni), Kimani Wamatangi (Kiambu), Ephraim Maina (Nyeri), Ibrahim Ali (Wajir), Yusuf Haji (Garissa) and Boy Issa Juma (Kwale).
Those who voted against the motion and are expected to back Waiguru’s ouster motion are Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo Marakwet), Kinyua Nderitu (Laikipia), Mary Yone (Nominated Senator), Moses Wetang’ula (Bungoma), Samson Cherargei (Nandi), Aaron Cheruiyot (Kericho), Hargura Godana (Marsabit), Susan Kihika (Nakuru), Andrew Langat (Bomet), Mithika Linturi (Meru), and Anwar Loitiptip (Lamu).

Insiders say Uhuru and Raila took control of the battle to save the governor after MPs from Central Kenya, largely affiliated to Ruto, took on Jubilee Party secretary general Raphael Tuju, accusing him of overstepping his mandate by removing Kirinyaga majority leader James Murang’o for supporting the ouster motion.
But even as Uhuru and Raila plot Waiguru rescue,her husband lawyer Kamotho Waiganjo was working on legal aspect and was instrumental in moving the matter to court.
The governor is now resting easy after High Court judge Weldon Korir ruled that the Kirinyaga county assembly should hold its horses until after the Covid-19 disease is contained.
The judge, however, made it clear that the MCAs are free to debate the motion once the pandemic is contained.

The governor is also resting east after the presidency and the Jubilee Party delved into her ouster.
Jubilee Party dismissed its leader of majority in the county assembly for blowing his personal differences with the governor and moving forward to back the ouster motion. Tuju’s move to crack the whip in Kirinyaga was sanctioned by Uhuru. The two leaders were also informed that Kirinyaga deputy governor Peter Ndambiri had a telephone conversation with Ruto before the escalation of the war between their supporters. The supporters of the duo clashed a day after a motion to impeach the county boss was filed in the county assembly.

Trouble started when rowdy youths allied to Ndambiri disrupted a press conference of a pro-Waiguru group at Defatha village in Mwea constituency.
The governor’s supporters had called the press conference to denounce the impeachment motion.
But as they addressed the press, a group of youths, who were armed with whips and sticks, stormed the venue and dispersed the pro-Waiguru group.
They accused the governor of undermining her deputy through sponsored demonstrations.
“Enough is enough. The governor has been undermining the deputy governor for long. We hear she has ordered his office to be closed. Let her know that Ndambiri too has supporters,” said Michael Chomba, who was speaking for the pro-Ndambiri youth.
Addressing the media earlier, Waiguru’s supporters accused the assembly of failing in their responsibility and sleeping on the job.
Led by Michael Gitari, a political activist and a staunch Waiguru ally, the supporters defended the governor and termed the accusations leveled against her as politically instigated.
Curiously, the petition was signed by 30 of the 33 members of the county assembly.
The majority leader, Murang’o was among the MCAs who addressed a presser to vouch for the impeachment.
Tuju said the party has lost its trust and confidence in Murang’o and thus cannot be allowed to run the affairs of the county executive in the assembly.
But in a rejoinder, the county assembly of Kirinyaga expressed disappointment after the assembly’s leader received a dismissal letter.
Tuju in the letter said the majority leader was dismissed after he presented complaints to the Jubilee headquarter against Waiguru.
The letter further noted that after complaints, the party found that apart from two issues of disbursement of funds for bursaries and women projects the rest of the issues raised by the MCA were personal.
Murango is also accused of being part of a cohort of mainly independent MCAs who addressed the mass media on notice of motion to impeach Waiguru.
But Wamumu ward MCA John Bapstita Kanga and Tebere ward MCA Gudson Muchina have defendedthe majority leader said the Jubilee Party has no power to dictate who is supposed to be majority leader in Kirinyaga.
The current script is a replica of what happened in 2014 following a bid to impeach Waiguru as Devolution cabinet secretary.
The move flopped after Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi succumbed to pressure from Uhuru and the Meru Council of Elders and hence failed to turn up to move the motion in parliament.
The President and his deputy had reportedly held a meeting with Linturi and prevailed on him to drop his plan to have Waiguru removed from the cabinet.