Senators push for review of laws on governor removal
The Senate during a past session. The lawmakers are pushing for a review of procedures and threshold for removal of governors and their deputies.
Senators are pushing for a review of procedures and threshold for removal of governors and their deputies from office through impeachment in a bid to end “weaponisation of the process”.
Speaking in light of the removals of former governors Mike Sonko (Nairobi) and Ferdinand Waititu (Kiambu) in 2020, the lawmakers said the consequences of such impeachments are dire, hence the need to ensure fairness in the process.
The fresh push by senators’ mirrors calls by the Council of Governors (CoG) to review legislation governing impeachment to guard against abuse of the process by rogue MCAs.
CoG Chair Anne Waiguru has been pushing to have the section of the County Governments Act, 2012 providing for procedures and threshold for removal of governors and their deputies reviewed to make it more difficult to remove them.
The Kirinyaga governor, who in 2020 was rescued by the Senate, explained that the procedure should mirror that for recalling an MP.
She argued that the push is aimed at ensuring governors and their deputies have sufficient time to set up their administration for purposes of service delivery.
“As governors, we are extremely concerned by the impeachments. When you compare the process of removal of a governor to the recall of an MP, you find that there is a very huge difference,” she said.
Now, senators say there is need to end arbitrary impeachments, which are used for political expediency.
Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot argued that impeachments have become political processes yet they have very serious legal and constitutional consequences “so we cannot afford to just allow it”.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said: “Even Sonko, the former popular governor of Nairobi, the consequence of his impeachment is so painful. You are staying out of office for more than 10 years. If he was to run for governor even in Mombasa in 2022, he would have won. That is the pain of being impeached.”
He went on: “These are the things we want to cure so that by the time you are being impeached, you have committed a serious offence and sin against man, God and the constitution of Kenya.”
Kitui Governor Enoch Wambua said some governors have suffered impeachment on trumped up charges.
“We have seen governors go through anguish and pain of impeachment for reasons other than the provisions of the constitution on the removal of a governor. There are those out of office for extra constitutional reasons,” Mr Wambua said.
To date, he said, “I believe there were no grounds for the removal of Governor Sonko from office. He was removed for other reasons and not for the breach of the constitution. What has happened is that now a very young leader, robust, a man of the people, cannot hold public office because he was impeached for extra constitutional reasons.”
The Senate committee on devolution, Mr Wambua said, should take up the matter and table a Bill for members to debate and put in place proper requirements for impeachment of governors.
Kiambu Senator Karungo Wa Thang'wa said that just like Mr Sonko, Mr Waititu was also impeached irregularly.
“If we gave Sonko an opportunity to go to court and gave ourselves timelines, probably he would be safe by today. Even Governor Waititu, the people of Kiambu know very well there was no requisite number at the county assembly to kick him out,” said Mr Thang’wa.
Mr Waititu, he said, can never take up any public office because of politics.
“MCAs should give us video evidence, Hansard reports and the number of votes during an impeachment process at the county assembly, and if we have an MCA who says he never voted, we listen to them first,” said the senator.
Mr Thang’wa said that there should be no replacement of an impeached deputy governor within 14 days until all the legal processes are exhausted.
“We must have laws that give the ousted deputy governor or that governor an opportunity to go to court and we should not say our decision is final. We need to comb through this County Government Act so that we can help these counties. I dare say in the county governments of 2013 and 2017-2022, it was the national government trying to kill devolution,” the law maker added.
Marsabit senator Mohamed Chute said there is need to relook at the impeachment laws and make necessary amendments.
“The way Governor Sonko was removed from office, there should be a way of asking him to bring a petition to this house to be looked at because the way he was removed is unconstitutional and very irregular. This matter needs to go to the courts for them to say yes, this person was removed regularly before they are finally sent home,” he said.
