Court Halts Embu Deputy Speaker’s Impeachment

The Court halted the process after an impeachment motion was tabled on Tuesday seeking to remove him from the position.

Justice Florence Muchemi halted the process temporarily on Wednesday pending hearing and determination of a case in which he has sued the assembly Speaker Justus Mate, Clerk Jimmy Kauma and the assembly as a whole.

The stoppage came after Swaleh obtained a court order on Wednesday through his lawyer David Njoroge.

The County Assembly led by the Speaker and the Clerk have so far been refrained from introducing, seizing or otherwise deliberating on the removal from office of Swaleh based on the ruling of the speaker which he gave out on February 24th this year.

The case will be heard on March 24th, 2015.

ABUSE OF OFFICE

Mavuria Ward REP Joseph Mwaniki tabled a notice on the motion seeking to remove Swaleh on Tuesday on the grounds of incompetence and  abuse of office.

The Embu County Assembly has been rife with several impeachment motions including that of Governor Martin Wambora and that of County Assembly Speaker Justus Mate.

Last week, embattled Embu Governor Martin Wambora was facing a fresh uprising from the MCAs over allegations of altering the county budget.

The MCAs, led by the leader of majority Andrew Musakwa, accused Wambora and members of the County Executive of meddling with the budget making process.

The MCAs claim that the move by the Governor will deny them salaries for an undisclosed period of time.  

Mavuria Ward MCA Joseph Mwaniki alleged that leaders from the county have been meeting in Nairobi to unlock the budgetary stalemate.

Mwaniki said that despite the meetings, the budget was altered leaving leaders of the county assembly with no clear cut line of raising money to pay salaries.

BUDGET CEILING

However, the Executive says that it will stand with the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) budget ceiling for the County Assembly which stands at Ksh 250 million against the Ksh 350 million budget by the assembly.

Deputy Governor Dorothy Nditi said that they will resolve the stalemate within the shortest time possible. She called on the county leaders to work in harmony.

Last year, 19 members of the Embu County assembly vowed to push for the impeachment of their speaker Justus Kariuki Mate accusing him of abusing his powers.

Led by deputy speaker Ibrahim Swaleh, the MCAs walked out of the assembly.

The MCAs later stormed the speaker’s office to convey their grievances and their new plan to impeach him.

By Maureen Murimi