Deputy Governor threatens to resign in solidarity with Gachagua

Nyeri Deputy Governor has said he will resign should senators affirm the decision by MCAs to kick out his boss Nderitu Gachagua.

And in a show of solidarity with the county boss, seven county executives also announced that they will join the deputy governor Mr Samuel Wamathai in leaving office saying the decisions by the governor was as a result of team work.

In a press conference, the executives said the matters over which the governor was being impeached stemmed from collective decisions by the county executive.

“In the unlikely event of forcing out the Governor from office on grounds of the flawed allegations, we will resign from our Offices in the spirit of collective responsibility,” they said.

They further defended the governor against claims of misuse of public funds claiming that MCAs were quick to condemn the governor for political gains.

According to the Health Executive, Charles Githinji, the issues highlighted as grounds for impeachment were flimsy and only tainted the image of the county.

“It is a shame that we have gotten to the point that the entire country is looking at us,” he said.

He maintained that the governor was innocent of all the allegations levelled against him.

They further condemned the storming of the office of the governor by five MPs in the company of MCAs.

Dr Githinji noted that the lawmakers had harassed staff in the governor’s office.

“We find this action detestable, unacceptable and totally repugnant to the ethics and principles of public service,” he said.

They questioned why the Assembly failed to give them opportunity to respond to all the said allegations.

“We are fully confident that if we were allowed this opportunity we would have satisfactorily answered all the concerns of the Assembly and fully exonerated the governor of any wrong doing,” he said.

However, Majority Leader Duncan Gituanja said they had summoned the executives severally but they had refused to appear before Assembly committees.

“We will be extremely delighted if they leave because the corrupt lot will leave leadership of the county. They are the people who have helped the governor steal from residents,” he said.

Mr Gituanja described the deputy governor as “a flower girl who has not helped the county in any way but allowed massive corruption”.

The executives urged the Senate to give the governor a fair chance to be heard and respond to the allegations.

Assembly Speaker David Mugo was accused of being partisan and supporting the impeachment motion. He has however denied the allegations and distanced himself from drafting the motion.

Three executives Mr Githinji, Ms Wanyitu and Mr Thuo have a pending court case in which they are seeking to stop their prosecution.

In the case they have sued the county assembly, Director of Public Prosecutions and Inspector General of Police stopping them from instituting charges after they defied county assembly summons.