Plan to impeach governor dropped

Elected leaders in Tana River County have agreed to save Governor Hussein Dado from being sent home.

MPs, area women representative, senator, county representatives, executive officers and the speaker held a series of meetings during which it was realised that impeachment would be detrimental to development.

Tana River Political Caucus chairman Hassan Dukicha told the Nation by phone on Monday that the governor, who had been threatened with impeachment following disagreements with county representatives, “is now very safe from the axe”.

“We have held a series of meetings and ended with one in Tana River that gave birth to the Hirimani Declaration, where we buried the hatchet for the sake of Tana River people,” said Mr Dukicha, who is also the MP for Galole.

“We decided that differences cannot build anything. Peace is paramount to any development initiative,” he said.

The lawmaker said the leaders were now talking with one voice and had embarked on a peace and reconciliation drive after ethnic clashes in the county where 187 people were killed, hundreds injured and at least 35,000 displaced.

“We are now working on a development strategy for the whole county. We have realised that with violence, hatred and plans to impeach our governor, we will not reach anywhere or achieve anything,” he said.

ACCOUNTABILITY

At the same time, Senate Committee chairman on Devolution Kipchumba Murkomen and Kericho Senator Charles Keter said the Senate was put in place for the purpose of accountability and to protect devolution.

In reference to the ouster of Embu Governor Martin Nyaga Wambora, Mr Murkomen said more heads would roll because of disclosures of financial impropriety in reports of the Controller of Budget and the Auditor-General. (READ: Kidero faults Senate over Wambora sacking)

“I want to tell the governors who are headed to court over summonses to appear before Senate committees that you cannot scare us from doing our job,” said Mr Murkomen.

The two politicians spoke at AIC Kapsowar Mission Medical Training College during a fundraiser.

In Kakamega, Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has criticised the Senate for sending Mr Wambora home, saying the move would destabilise county governments.

“Senators are not courts to take over the matter. They are out to kill devolution,” said Mr Oparanya.

He said governors were likely to devote more time fighting impeachment instead of delivering quality services to the public.

Reported by Daniel Nyassy, Philemon Suter and Barnabas Bii