MCAs sign up to impeach Gachagua in Sh6bn row
What you need to know:
- Kimathi MCA Stephen Mwaniki on Wednesday said the impeachment is meant to discipline the governor for failing to implement development projects that they had proposed.
- Public Accounts Committee chairman Baragu Mutahi on Wednesday accused the governor of failing to appear before the Senate to respond to queries raised in the Auditor-General’s report on 2013/2014 Financial Year.
The majority of ward representatives in Nyeri County have signed up to impeach Governor Nderitu Gachagua as the executive and the county assembly feud over the budget.
By Thursday, 33 of 47 members of the county assembly (MCAs) had signed the list that has been circulating in the House this week. The ward reps have been collecting signatures in support of the governor’s impeachment since Tuesday.
Kimathi MCA Stephen Mwaniki yesterday said the impeachment is meant to discipline the governor for failing to implement development projects that they had proposed.
“He deserves it (impeachment),” said Mr Mwaniki. “The county lagged behind in development expenditure; clearly, he is not performing.”
The governor, however, dared the ward reps to impeach him and vowed not to implement projects that members of the public had not approved.
“I have not done anything wrong to warrant any impeachment,” said Mr Gachagua. “However, I will not be intimated.
“We will meet in court or the Senate.”
Owing to the row between the two arms of the devolved government, the county cannot spend the Sh6.4 billion contained in the 2016/2017 budget. It was, however, recently allowed by the Controller of Budget to access half of last year’s budget for both development and recurrent expenditure.
According to the MCAs, the governor has sidelined them in the governance of the county and is not willing to answer to corruption queries.
Public Accounts Committee chairman Baragu Mutahi yesterday accused the governor of failing to appear before the Senate to respond to queries raised in the Auditor-General’s report on 2013/2014 Financial Year.
But Mr Gachagua refuted the claims, terming them as propaganda.
“I have been cleared of any allegations because we have nothing to hide,” he said. “We have produced the documents that the Auditor-General needed and we will be appearing again on Monday.”
Mr Gachagua claimed the MCAs are working at the behest of a “Nairobi-based tycoon who once confessed he funds them”. Chinga MCA Paul Ngiria, a Gachagua supporter, also confirmed that his colleagues were plotting to impeach the governor but distanced himself from the plot.
The MCAs are expected to table the motion when they resume on August 23, after attending inter-county games in Thika.
