Kabogo gets ultimatum over Kiambu County head office

The rift between Governor William Kabogo and members of Parliament in the county has widened after the legislators gave him three months to return the region’s headquarters to Kiambu town and lower levies taxed on traders or face impeachment.

The leaders who crisscrossed the county in a caravan said they have unsuccessfully pleaded with the Governor over the issues and the only option was to send him home through signatures, a plot they unanimously vowed to implement.

MPs Alice Ng’an’ga (Thika), Jude Njomo (Kiambu Town) Francis Waititu (Juja), John Kiragu (Limuru) and Kimani Ichung’wa (Kikuyu) spoke after accompanying former Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu to take his nominations certificates for the Kabete by-election on Tuesday evening.

Mr Waititu who has joined the governor’s critics said they have agreed to start collecting the signatures if the demand is not met at the expiry of the ultimatum.

“I am giving him until July to return the offices to Kiambu town and reduce the rates failure to which, I will lead in collection of signatures to send him home. That will be the only way to deal with his arrogance and hard-headedness,” said the Kabete JAP flag-bearer, a ticket that makes him a favourite in the race for the Kabete parliamentary seat.

Mr Waititu accused the Governor of disrespecting elected leaders, citing his past remarks that unmarried women should not be elected and that some MPs in the county were greenhorns and test-tube politicians.

Ms Ng’an’ga said the two years set in the constitutions to allow the electorate to impeach their respective governors had elapsed and Mr Kabogo should prepare for a political storm.

Despite her constituency hosting the county headquarters, Ms Ng’an’ga said the Governor should respect the will of the people and relocate to Kiambu in the next two months.

He should also listen to the plea of the traders who are burdened by punitive rates, she said.

“Apart from returning the offices here (Kiambu), he should also talk to MCAs, many of who went to bed with him to lower the rates.

“His time for bulldozing things in his favour is over and if he does not toe the line, he better be prepared to go home because enough is enough,” Ms Ng’an’ga said at a stopover in Kiambu town.

On Tuesday, traders in Ruiru, Juja, Thika, Limuru and Kabete protested against what they termed as high levies introduced at the beginning of this year.

Mr Njomo, who is the chairman of the county MPs caucus, said the delayed renovation of the county offices which started in April 2013 was questionable.

“Since then (April 2013), there are storey buildings that have been constructed from the ground and completed but renovation of offices for the county, which does not have financial problems, is still going on,” said Mr Njomo.

Kiambu is the county’s gazetted headquarters but after being sworn in, Mr Kabogo declined to occupy the defunct Kiambu Municipal Council offices citing deplorable conditions.

He moved to Thika Town and asked for six months to have the Kiambu offices renovated but the deadline elapsed in October 2013 but the work was uncompleted.

Kiambu Town MCA James Njenga said he was drafting a motion which he intends to table in the County Assembly to compel the governor to move back to Kiambu.

“The signals he has been sending is that he does not want to come. Its very unfortunate that as head of the county, he is showing us a leadership of defiance,” Mr Njenga said.

This is not the first time the MPs are threatening to impeach Mr Kabogo, declaring that they will attain their objective as any further delay would be costly to the county.

Mr Kabogo has repeatedly maintained that he was not scared by the impeachment threats, declaring that the electorate whose signatures the MPs want to collect were conversant with his development record.