Munga suffers another blow in Muranga water wars

Businessman Peter Munga has suffered yet another blow after the High Court dismissed an application seeking to stop Governor Mwangi Wa Iria from replacing him as the chairman of the Murang’a Water and Sanitation Company (Muwasco).

The application was filed by petitioners Mercy Wanjiku Kimwe, Mr Antony Mutiria Mwangi and Ms Jane Nyambura Wanyoike, who contested the appointment of Prof Joseph Kimura as Muwasco chairman by the governor through a Kenya Gazette notice.

While dismissing the application, Justice Kanyi Kimondo ruled the petitioners did not make a strong case to compel him to issue the conservatory orders they were seeking.

"However, the main petition shall be heard on priority and the trial court will determine whether the functions of water and sanitation company have been completely devolved to counties," the judge ruled on Friday.

PETITIONERS' GROUNDS

The petitioners had argued that there was no advertisement made when replacing Mr Munga and that public participation was not carried out and hence the Gazette notice was illegal. 

“Muwasco is run by the board of directors who are nominated by the stakeholders. The governor’s appointee is a stranger since he is not a director,” Mr Kamwaro, the petitioners lawyer, told Justice Kimondo.

But Wa Iria’s lawyer, Mr Ng’ang’a Mbugua, countered their arguments accusing them of being proxies of Muwasco.

The lawyer told the court the petitioners had failed to demonstrate how their rights to water have been affected by the replacement of Mr Munga.

But the judge disagreed with him, saying the petitioners had raised strong arguments on the legal framework underpinning the conservation and supply of clean and reliable drinking water.

The main petition, on whether the county is legally justified in taking over the running of water companies, is yet to be determined. 

FIRMS TAKEOVER

Mr Munga has gone to court several times seeking orders to stop Wa Iria from replacing him.

Last month, the Labour Court struck out his petition challenging his removal from the chairmanship of Muwasco, a move that led him to file a suit at the Court of Appeal in Nyeri.

The High Court in Murang’a also dismissed last year an application by five water companies questioning Mr Wa Iria’s intentions to take over the management of the firms and his establishment of a caretaker committee.

Mr Wa Iria published a Gazette notice declaring that all the five water firms and Fort Beverages, a water company owned by Muwasco, belong to the county government.​