Migori Assembly majority leader removed over non-performance

Three senior Migori County officers were on December 1, 2015 quizzed by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) detectives over alleged graft. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By  ELISHA OTIENO

What you need to know:

  • Cord MCAs met and resolved to replace him with the North Kamagambo Ward representative Richard Sollo.
  • Masaba Ward representative Abedi Maroa said Mr Owiro was replaced following a broad consensus among the Cord members.
  • Owiro was accused of misusing his office and resources, failure to do his duties as required and failure to protect party interests in the Assembly.
  • But Mr Owiro hit back accusing his critics of witch hunt and malice in his removal.

The Majority Leader in the Migori County Assembly, Johnson Owiro, has been removed over alleged non-performance of his duties.

Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) allied to the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) met and resolved to replace him with the North Kamagambo Ward representative Richard Sollo.

“We can no longer rely on him to drive our agenda in the House and that is why we have impeached him,” said Kakrao ward MCA Mr Jeyi Gucha.

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Masaba Ward representative Abedi Maroa said Mr Owiro was replaced following a broad consensus among the Cord members.

“We will expand the net wider in a bid to streamline operations in the House,” he added.

Those who passed the motion to throw out the leader accused him of, among other things, misusing his office and resources, failure to do his duties as required and failure to protect party interests in the Assembly.

The MCAs said the ousted leader was a stumbling block to many of the motions that were being introduced in the Assembly and was working with the Opposition.

EMPLOYING RELATIVES

South Sakwa Ward MCA Mr Jared Osawa said the leader had violated the law by employing his relatives in the Assembly without following proper procedure.

“The leader sits at the County Assembly Service Board and instead of ensuring that jobs were given to deserving people equitably, he only preferred his relatives,” charged Mr Osawa.

But Mr Owiro, who is also the ward representative for Central Sakwa ward, hit back, accusing his critics of a witch-hunt and malicious intentions.

He said the exercise that led to his removal was illegal and dismissed it as a mockery of the county assembly’s standing orders.

DENIED ALLEGATIONS

He said all the allegations that were levelled against him were false and baseless and were manipulated to suit the interests of a group of MCAs who, he said, were power-hungry.

Mr Owiro said he never participated in the appointments of his relatives as alleged by the MCAs.

“My removal has been prompted by sheer greed of power and not on substantive issues,” he stated.

Sources told Nation.co.ke that the Minority Leader, Charles Nyangi, could also suffer a similar fate in the coming weeks.

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