Raila’s Top Soldiers; Mbadi, Junet In a Tag Of War Over Waiguru’s Impeachment

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru’s impeachment and the razzmatazz around it is threatening to split ODM party.

A day after National Assembly Minority Whip Junet Mohammed indicated the Raila-led party was lobbying to save Waiguru from being impeached, ODM chairman John Mbadi dismissed them assertions as personal.

Mbadi said that ODM had not taken a position on the matter adding that the Senators would make a decision based on evidence adduced by the Kirinyaga County Assembly, which impeached Waiguru last week.

Mbadi, who is also the National Assembly Minority Leader, said it would be a reek of hypocrisy for ODM to blindly defend Waiguru before interrogating evidence of abuse of office and alleged misappropriation of public funds.

He said the fight against corruption was part of the March 9, 2018 pact Raila entered with President Uhuru Kenyatta in their famous handshake.

“ODM has not taken a position. I have the feeling that senators have the ability to serve justice to the MCAs and the governor. They have the ability to look at the law, the accusations and the evidence by the MCAs before taking a decision,” Mbadi said.

The Suba South MP added: “If the MCAs are just playing politics with no strong grounds to impeach the governor, it will come out. It would be hypocritical of us in ODM to say we want to save someone accused of corruption. ODM is on record that part of the reason for the handshake was to bolster the fight against graft.”

Mbadi also dismissed politicians advancing the narrative that Waiguru was being fought because of her gender, listing governors who had been dragged to the Senate after being impeached by their county assemblies on grounds of alleged corrupt dealings.

On Sunday Junet said ODM would defend Waiguru because the governor was “being bullied simply because she is a woman.”

Junet claimed Mbadi was not privy to the latest discussions in the party. He said the decision was taken at the weekend.

Junet then requested to reach out to Mbadi before he could give a response on the apparent division in the party over Waiguru. When he called back, the Suna East MP indicated that Raila would call Mbadi on the matter.

“I have informed him (Mbadi) about the decision and the party leader will also call him shortly about it,” said Junet.

Minutes later, Mbadi called to withdraw his earlier statement, citing a discussion with the party boss.

“I have had a fruitful discussion with the party leader, and it would only be fair to withdraw my earlier remarks,” said Mbadi.

At the same time, Raila yesterday dismissed the claims of working to save Waiguru, stating that the Senate was free to work independently.

“Senators should carry out the mandate independently. I don’t need to save anyone. Let someone defend themselves based on the facts presented,” said Raila. He spoke to journalists at Mbagathi after receiving his Covid-19 negative certificate a day after undergoing the test at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.