Assembly planning to impeach me again if this fails

Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru says the County Assembly has planned another 8 impeachments should the she be cleared from any wrongdoing by the senate.

In her opening remarks before the Senate special committee investigating her impeachment, Waiguru said, “Kirinyaga MCAs have made several statements that this is just 1 of 9 impeachments they have lined up to ensure they destabilize the County totally. While you cannot stop legitimate impeachment motions to be prosecuted, you must give sufficient guidelines that ensure that impeachment is not misused.”

Waiguru said impeachment must not be made a tool for pursuing vendetta and urged the Senate not to be made an accomplice in such endeavors.

The Governor has also urged the Senate to cite the MCAs for abuse of office should the Committee find that the allegations are malicious, unfounded and were calculated for the mischievous purpose of harassing the Governor.

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The Governor said the impeachment motion is time consuming has infected the political environment in the County that currently budgets in Kirinyaga, are not being approved.

“My officers are summoned daily and issued threats that they will be removed from office or otherwise sanctioned. As a matter of fact, in the last month alone two CECs, one Cos and the County Secretary have been given a vote of no confidence by the Assembly,” She said.

Waiguru further revealed that the Assembly has failed to approve critical State officers including CECs and members of the County Public Service Board making it difficult to employ staff even for critical health services.

This she said has affected services delivery to the people of Kirinyaga and if not dealt with will continue to do so.

She said the impeachment process by the County Assembly was not done procedurally arguing that she wasn’t accorded a fair hearing and that the decision to proceed with impeachment despite an existing court order was made on the same day she was invited to appear.

“Truth be told, the notice to appear was brought to my office at 10 am on the Tuesday when the motion was being “debated”. I was not even in the County on that day. By 3 pm on that same day, the impeachment proceedings had been completed,” She said.

Waiguru says what it is before the Committee is false in every respect, adding that the allegations are unfounded and have no place in an impeachment motion.

She says allegations that she drew an imprest and didn’t travel are false pointing out that she indeed travelled to the US and Italy and was actually accompanied by the Majority leader on those trips yet he is the chief accuser.Waiguru said there allegations about the purchase of the Governor’s vehicle yet the budget was approved by the same Assembly and the purchase was from Toyota Kenya that supplies government vehicles under a framework contract.

The Governor says the drivers of the impeachment motion knowingly added three non-existent entries to the imprest list amounting to Ksh 4.6 million. “These moneys were never paid to the Governor, and they have no evidence,” She said.

She has now appealed to the Senate to dismiss the charges saying the removal of an elected official is a solemn responsibility as it overturns the democratic choice of the voters. “In the case of Kirinyaga County, it seeks to substitute the will of 159,000 citizens who voted for me on 8^th August 2013. Consequently such a process must only be carried out in extreme circumstances.”