This means that the Senate will investigate the matter in plenary on Monday, August 19, and Tuesday, August 20, 2024.
Embattled Meru Governor, Kawira Mwangaza will once again face the plenary which will determine the impeachment motion against her, instead of a special committee.
Mwangaza’s hopes of facing an 11-member committee mandated to hear and determine the charges levelled against her went up in smoke after a motion by Majority leader Senator Boni Khalwale seeking to establish a committee to investigate the impeachment charges was dismissed.
This means that the Senate will investigate the matter in plenary on Monday, August 19, and Tuesday, August 20, 2024.
“The motion for the establishment of a formation for a committee has been negatived and the root for a special committee is abandoned. The senate shall investigate the matter to impeach the Meru County Governor in plenary,” he said.
Senate speaker Amason Kingi during his maiden speech on September 8, 2022. /STANDARD DIGITAL
Earlier, Senator Khalwale had proposed the formation of an 11-member committee to probe the grounds for impeachment of the Kisii deputy governor.
The proposal was however shot down in favour of a plenary on the basis of Mwangaza facing a third successive impeachment.
Instead of delegating the investigation to a committee, all Senators will now have the opportunity to participate fully in the debate, a decision that has sparked both support and opposition within the Senate.
Earlier, the initial proposal to form the committee was put forward by the Senate leadership, with the House Business Committee submitting the names of the selected members. Senators such as Hillary Sigei, Abdul Haji, Wahome Wamainga, and Karen Nyamu were among those named to the committee, which was expected to investigate the grounds for Mwangaza’s impeachment and report back within 10 days.
With the proposal for the formation of the committee turned down, Speaker Amason Kingi, after listening to the debate, directed that the matter be handled in plenary, citing the need for transparency and full participation.
He instructed that the Meru County Assembly and Governor Mwangaza be served with notice by Wednesday, with both parties required to submit their responses by Saturday. The Senate Clerk will then distribute all relevant documents to Senators by Sunday, ahead of the hearings.
The decision to abandon the committee route in favour of a full plenary session is seen as a move to ensure that all voices are heard and that the process is transparent.
This isn’t the first time the Senate has had to go the plenary way in terms of determining Mwangaza’s impeachment. This was the case on October 31, 2023, on the way to the Senate dismissing an impeachment motion against her brought forward by the Meru County Assembly.
Mwangaza will however need a miracle to have her impeachment saved by the Senate for the third time running, as the charges against her that warranted recent impeachments keep growing heavier and heavier.
On Thursday, August 8, MCAs voted to impeach her on charges of abuse of office, gross misconduct and gross violation of the Constitution and other laws.
40 out of 69 members of the county assembly voted in favour of the impeachment motion tabled by Deputy Majority Party Leader Zipporah Kinya, meeting the two-thirds threshold. Another 17 voted against the impeachment motion, while three did not vote.
Meru Governor, Kawira Mwangaza during her swearing-in on September 11, 2022. /KAWIRA MWANGAZA