Reprieve as court bars senators from discussing Kivutha Kibwana ouster
What you need to know:
- On Thursday, members of the county assembly voted to send the governor home.
- This followed a protracted battle with the members, who have been accusing him of incompetence.
The High Court has barred the Senate from discussing the impeachment of Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana.
Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi granted the orders sought by lawyer Wilfred Nyamu, who stated in a case he filed under a certificate of urgency that “a resolution paving the impeachment of Prof Kibwana had been forwarded to the Senate”.
“Unless this court intervenes and grants a temporary relief, the Senate will proceed to discuss and act on the recommendation of the county assembly, which has since passed a motion to remove Prof Kibwana,” Mr Nyamu told the judge.
The lawyer said on October 6, Prof Kibwana received a letter asking him to appear before the assembly to respond to a motion touching on his conduct.
He told the judge that on the same day a four-page document without any supporting annextures was delivered to the governor’s office. The document contained some allegations against the county boss.
SENT HOME
On Thursday, members of the county assembly voted to send the governor home.
This followed a protracted battle with the members, who have been accusing him of incompetence.
The MCAs have also been accusing him of flouting procurement procedures and gross misconduct.
On Friday, Mr Nyamu told the court: “Prof Kibwana prepared a detailed response to the motion denying every allegation and pointing out that there was no documentation attached to substantiate any of the allegations.”
In her brief ruling, Lady Justice Ngugi certified the case filed by the Council of Governors, Prof Kibwana and the Makueni County Executives as urgent.
She directed that the case be transferred to the High Court in Machakos for hearing on October 16.
“I shall defend my case before the Senate and I hope it will be fair. I’m ready to use other legal processes to defend myself as the charges being levelled against me are laughable,” Prof Kibwana told a press conference in Nairobi.
