Meru County legislators plan to file an impeachment motion against their governor, Kawira Mwangaza, next week, the first step in the embattled governor’s second impeachment process.
The MCAs, led by Assembly Deputy Speaker Mwenda Ali and the Minority Leader, said this time they have enough reasons to oust Mwangaza.
The governor survived the first impeachment in December 2022 after the 11-member Senate Special Committee appointed to investigate the grounds for her impeachment concluded that none of the charges levelled against her by the Meru MCAs were proven.
“As things are, members are convinced that we have grounds enough for the impeachment motion and in a few weeks, you will see us doing what we are supposed to be doing,” one of the MCAs said on Monday.
The MCAs accuse the county boss of using her gender to manipulate her public image and create the impression that the MCAs are biassed.
They cite a recent meeting with President William Ruto in which the governor allegedly gathered 4,000 women and gave them green wrappers to cheer her on.
According to the MCAs, Mwangaza also gathered 500 women and dressed them in green headscarves to cheer her on during the recent launch of a market in Meru, where Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria was present.
“We are not fighting her because she is a woman,” one of the female MCAs said, “but hers is the case of a governor who has failed at her job. She won the seat as a woman anyway, so this is a leadership issue.”
They describe this as an attempt to divert Kenyan attention away from the problems that Meru is experiencing.
During last year’s impeachment proceedings, Meru MCAs levelled 62 allegations against Mwangaza, including nepotism and irregular appointments, abuse of office, and gross violations of the constitution and other county laws.
