Court: Wa Irias impeachment matter must go before Senate

The High Court has declined to grant Murang’a governor Mwangi wa Iria orders stopping the County Assembly from forwarding to the Senate their decision approving his removal from the office of County Governor.

Justice Joseph Onguto also declined to stop the Senate from receiving and deliberating the motion.

Justice Onguto stated that Mwangi Wa Iria is still a governor noting that the Senate has not yet made a decision and therefore he will not suffer any prejudice.

However, the matter was certified as urgent.

Wa Iria stated in his affidavit that he was denied a fair hearing since he was not invited to appear and defend himself before the select committee of the assembly or at the floor of the assembly.

The case will be heard on October 26^th.

Wa Iria had moved to the High Court to challenge his impeachment by county assembly members on Wednesday.

Before Joseph Ongutu Justice, Wa Iria wanted the court to order his reinstatement to head the county after the impeachment move by MCAs.

The county boss was ousted through a motion that saw 34 MCAs vote in support of the motion while 15 others opposed it.

MCAs behind the impeachment motion accuse Wa Iria of abuse of office, misuse of public funds, failure to pay contractors debts worth 2.5 billion shillings, among other claims.

Wa Iria was impeached for gross misconduct and for allegedly accumulating unsustainable debts to the tune of Ksh2.8 billion.

34 out of 49 members of the Murang’a County Assembly voted for his removal.

Apart from gross misconduct and accumulating unsustainable debts, Wa Iria’s critics accused the governor of spending public funds in private commercial entities. They cited the Auditor General’s report which showed the county spent over Ksh28 million under unclear circumstances.

According to the mover of the motion, Mary Waithera, the Ksh28 million was spent on Murang’a Investment Co-operative Society-a dairy project spearheaded by the embattled governor.

Waithera also accused the County Executive of spending Ksh247 million on advertising, against the Assembly’s recommendation of Ksh7 million.

In her address, Waithera cited lack of accountability in the management and use of county resources by incurring unsustainable debt to the tune of Ksh 2.5 billion.  She added that this amount was not disclosed in the Debt Management and Fiscal Paper 2015.

The assembly accused the Governor of borrowing a loan of Ksh200 million from the Kenya Commercial Bank without a guarantee from National Treasury.

The assembly members said they had nothing personal against the Governor, adding that they have attempted to hold talks with him but their efforts have gone to waste.