Wambora: Governor with 9 lives says impeachment attempts have taught him resilience

Wambora: Governor with 9 lives says impeachment attempts have taught him resilience

Embu County Governor Martin Wambora, has been termed as the “Governor with nine lives” after surviving a stream of impeachment attempts to remove him as the county boss.

Speaking during an interview on Citizen Television’s Day Break show on Thursday, Wambora said he feels “wonderful” after the Supreme Court ruled to uphold his election as the Embu Governor telling the show’s host Sam Gituku that the attempts have taught him resilience.

“It was based on a falsehood and that’s why I was cleared by the High Court of Kerugoya, by the Court of Appeal of Nyeri and by the Court of Appeal in Nairobi,” he said about the latest attempt to challenge his win.

The Governor’s woes started in 2014 where the Embu County Assembly decided to impeach him accusing him of embezzling Ksh32.3 million as well as refusing to suspend Lorna Kariuki the then County Secretary who was in charge of handling the tenders for renovation of Moi Stadium and procurement of seeds for distribution to farmers.

There have been a record four attempts to impeach Governor Wambora by the County Assembly where he challenged each on court and emerged victorious.

The Governor was impeached by the County Assembly a record four times in 2014 where he challenged the decision each time in court and came out victorious.

Timeline of Wambora impeachment attempts

28th Jan 2014- Impeached by the Embu Assembly

14th Feb 2014 – Impeached again by senate (after he challenged assembly’s decision)

16th April 2014- Governor reinstated by the High Court

29th April 2014- Governor is impeached again by the Embu Assembly

13th May 2014 – Impeached again by the assembly

12th Feb 2015 – High Court upholds the Governor’s impeachment

11th Dec 2015- Court of Appeal nullifies decision to impeach Wambora

Appeal over Wambora’s 2017 win

He then won the Jubilee Party ticket in April 2017 and won his re-election as Governor on August 8.

The decision was challenged in court by Lenny Kivuti his opponent until yesterday when the Supreme Court upheld his win.

The governor had became the first elected executive to be impeached by a county assembly said that threshold for removing him in office was too low and that the process needs to be re-evaluated.

Development record

Mr. Wambora says that despite the many attempts to get him out of office, he has a great development record.

He talked about the Embu hospital infrastructure where he says that under his administration, the county has built over 100 New hospitals, upgraded six level 4 hospitals and ensured that the level 5 hospitals have been fully operationalised.

He also says that the county boasts of a successful brain surgery center where 125 brain surgeries have been conducted since November last year attracting referrals from the Kenyatta National Hospital.

The Governor also said that the county has established three Macadamia processing factories and they are in the process of opening a coffee mill which is expected to produce sufficient coffee for export directly from Embu.

Challenges

Mr. Wambora cited the defunct workforce at the county as a major contributor to the large recurring expenditure as their salaries are higher and that he cannot fire or replace them as this will go against a decision reached by the Worker’s Union to have them in office.

“I cannot reverse it as it was a negotiated deal with the union so it cannot be reversed and that is why the recurrent expenditure is very high” he said.

He also said that funds allocation to the County was minimal and that he would be lobbying for more from the national treasury.

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impeachment Embu County Governor Martin Wambora Supreme Court Kenya

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