Battle lines drawn as Machakos MCAs plan to impeach Governor Mutua

A section of Machakos County Assembly members have threatened to impeach Governor Alfred Mutua over alleged misappropriation of county funds.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, October 19, the MCAs, led by Deputy Speaker, Nathaniel Reuben, and Minority Leader, Thomas Kasoi, accused Mutua of using county funds to bankroll the activities of his Maendeleo Chap Chap Movement among other unsanctioned expenditures.

The MCAs were speaking in response to Governor Mutua’s earlier statement that a section of them had ditched him after he denied them money for campaigns.

“They asked me for money and when I told them I didn’t have any, they demanded that I reduce the funds set aside for water and road projects and give it to them to facilitate their 2017 campaigns,” claimed Mutua.

“I refused to give them the money because to me development projects are more important since they would benefit the people of Machakos. It is for this reason that they have vowed to collect signatures to impeach me. They are thieves.”

In response, the County deputy speaker said: “The County Assembly is made of men and women of integrity, who were actually the first in the country to sign code of conduct. It is, therefore, preposterous for Governor Mutua to accuse us of theft, when in fact all we are asking for is money to develop the wards.”

“Governor Mutua promised to install showers in every household, erect floodlights in every market and disburse bursaries to school children from needy families, that is what we are asking for.”

Nathaniel said Mutua’s utterances are evidence of his fear for losing his seat after allegedly failing to deliver on his pre-election promises.

“There is evidence that local funds are being diverted into people’s pockets with the results of a lifestyle audit carried out last year not yet revealed,” stated Nathaniel, who is also Ikombe MCA.

The MCAs further alleged that the statues, of Mulu Mutisya and Muindi Mbingu, that Machakos Governor Mutua had unveiled on Wednesday, and that of Paul Ngei to be unveiled by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday, October 20 had not been sanctioned by the County Assembly.

“The statue is a good idea, but there was no budget for it and we wonder where the Governor got the money and authority to carry out the project,” said Kasoi.

David Manyole, who is the Matuu Ward MCA also faulted Mutua for claiming they were thieves saying the number of MCAs opposed to his administration had risen from 15 to 49 due to his apparent ineptitude to deliver on his promises.

“Governor Mutua has not implemented anything that was in the budget and that is why we are demanding for Ksh 20 million for each ward to develop our wards,” said Manyole.

The MCAs said they would proceed to collect signatures and put together the necessary paperwork in a bid to impeach Governor Mutua next week.