Wednesday, 8th November, 2023 Afternoon Sitting

Clerk, do we have quorum?

Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly ring the Quorum Bell for 10 minutes.

Serjeant-at-Arms, you may stop the bell. We have a quorum now. Order! Hon. Senators, kindly take your seats. Clerk, please, call the first Order.

I am informed that when we took the lunch break, witness Dickson Munene was on the stand and he was being cross-examined by the County Assembly team and that they had 30 minutes to conclude. So, kindly, let the witness take the stand.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Of the Governor.

Good. Mr. Munene, please, confirm that the Governor’s explanation for all these prepayments is that they were imprest. Is that what the record shows?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I think it is now clearer.

Mr. Munene, you know this is a matter on record. Are you saying the Governor’s explanation is not that the prepayments on IFMIS were imprests that her sister Rose Kinya and the other officers were holding?

Page No.8 of?

Page No.8 of the Governor’s response. On page No.8, paragraph 1.1.12. What is the explanation that the Governor offers?

As late as 15th August, 2023, the Mover of the Motion at the County Assembly, publicly through his Facebook page, stated that the Personal Assistant (PA) , driver and protocol people were entitled to facilitation. That is a statement of fact.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Yes, I agree it is imprest.

Good. To the best of your knowledge of the law, can a public officer hold two imprests at the same time?

What do you mean by two imprests?

Exactly that. Two imprests. Can an officer hold two concurrent imprests?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Yes, I am.

Can you read Regulation 93(4)(b)?

Regulation 93 is on classes of imprest.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Yes.

I do not get the allusion.

You just read for us that there are two types of imprests. One is standing and the other one is temporary, also known as safari.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Correct.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Where?

The same page you are looking at, Regulation 93(3).

It says that- “Temporary imprests shall be issued mainly in respect of official journeys, and are intended to provide officers with funds with which they can meet travelling, accommodation and incidental expenses.”

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It depends.

That takes me to paragraph 4(b). Can you read it for the Senate?

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Yes.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Correct.

That is correct.

It must therefore follow it from the IFMIS extract, we find the Governor's relatives were paid several times on the same day, it would mean they were holding several imprests at the same time. Is that not so?

No, that is where you get it wrong.

Even if her defense, as you read it, is that these transactions were imprests?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Correct.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Correct.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Correct.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Now that you read for us a rule that says an officer must surrender the previous imprest before they can get a new one, is this not indicative of an officer who was holding six imprests when the law permits only one at a time?

Mr. Dickson Munene: No, it is not indicative. It is indicative that this is the day that these payments were made, because ordinarily, the county government does not always hold money. When the money is released to the county government all the imprests that had been incurred, or all the travels, accommodation or anything that had been done when there was no money, they are actually surrendered on that day when there are funds and they are paid on the same day.

I put it to you, Sir, that is not correct.

I put it to you that is correct. (Laughter)

Fair enough.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Sir, are you are familiar with the procedures for accounting for an imprest? Are you familiar with those procedures?

Which ones?

For surrendering an imprest and accounting for it?

Which ones are you referring me to?

I am asking a general question, Sir. Are you familiar with the process of accounting for an imprest?

Yes, I am.

It involves preparing the surrender voucher, is that not so?

Yes, it does.

That surrender voucher must be authenticated by the examiner. Is that correct or incorrect? Must it be authenticated by relevant officers in the finance department, Sir?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Good. In the surrender forms and vouchers that the Governor has presented to the Senate, have you seen any supporting documents other than the work ticket? The same work ticket used for four months, 17 times?

Which one is that?

I will read the number for you because we went through it yesterday. It is Work Ticket No.824574 and it appears for the record, in pages 104, 118, 129, 138, 150, 189, 204, 244, 245, 262, 269, 276, 284, 292, 300, 312 and 327 of the Governor's bundle.

The documents that you are referring me to are different.

Have you read their serial numbers, Sir?

I have read their contents.

The content is, of course, different because it is a forgery, but is the serial number not the same for all of them?

It is not a forgery, it is a photocopy.

Any evidence to show that it is a photocopy before this Senate?

Yes, there is.

Can you point it to us? As you are assisted to look for the evidence, are these work tickets not pulled from a serialized book? Would photocopying not be antithetical to the very reason for them having serial numbers? Mr. Munene, even if we were to take it that these are photocopies, which they are not, the photocopying would itself be an act of fraud. Would it not? It would defeat the purpose of having a serial number. It is still fraudulent accounting, is it not? Would you agree, Sir?

I may not entirely be in a position to respond to that.

You are not in a position?

Yes. What I know is that this is a blank form that has been photocopied by the driver.

I am giving that explanation.

Yes, but you are not the person who can tell us it was a photocopy. It is the driver, who can say that. You are a lawyer, and you know. Correct or incorrect?

Yes, I am a lawyer.

You are aware, as a lawyer, the only person who can tell the Senate that form was photocopied is the one who photocopied it. Correct or incorrect? Is that the law, Mr. Munene?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Sorry.

I know it has been photocopied.

Did you witness photocopying with your two eyes, Mr. Munene?

Mr. Dickson Munene: No.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Yes, established under the County Government Act?

Meaning, it is an independent organ of a county government?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Mr. Dickson Munene: No.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Yes, I do.

I want to refer you to the letters that sent the stated persons on compulsory leave. Are you there?

Which page are you referring?

It is Page No.336 of the County Assembly’s volume two.

Are you there? Kindly, be mindful of time.

Yes, I am.

Please, read the second sentence, beginning with “while on compulsory leave.”

Very well. That means, this letter is dated when?

It is dated 6th September, 2022.

Written by who? Is it the County Secretary?

It is signed by

What is the designation of that particular person?

He used to be the County Secretary and Head of Public Service.

Which page?

You can refer to it on Page No.416. Does it make reference to salaries?

Which volume?

You can be shown by my colleague. It is on Page No.416 of the County Assembly’s bundle. Does it order the County Secretary as well as the County Governor to pay the petitioners their salaries? Please, be mindful of time.

Okay. The order issues conservatory orders---

Does it order the Governor to pay salaries? Does it speak of a salary?

Where specifically?

By restraining the respondents, whether by themselves, their officers, their servants or agents, from implementing the impugned decisions contained in the letters.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

It does not talk of salaries. It is a factual.

No, a subsequent one talks on salary.

No, not this one. We are going to the subsequent one.

Not this one that you are talking about.

This one does not order you to pay the salaries.

There is a subsequent one in the same matter, which you appear for the petitioners.

Yes, I still maintain that.

In accordance to?

In accordance to the court order.

Court Order, dated?

Let me take you there.

Kindly, be mindful of time.

Yes. Court order dated---

I am only interested with the date. When is the court order dated?

You are interested with the payment of salaries.

What is the date of that court order?

It is dated,19th October, 2023.

19th October, 2023, is a year later. Confirm that it is a year later. The other one is dated 7th October, 2022. That is a Court Order that came a year later. True or false?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Page?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

The payslip is dated March 2023.

Yes, it is for the salary of March, 2023.

My final question is: Whose responsibility is it to employ staff in acting capacity?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Sorry?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Dickson Munene: No. CPSB does not have the responsibility to employ staff in acting capacity.

Who has that responsibility?

The CPSB can only employ in an acting capacity where it has the responsibility of filling that position in a substantive.

Yes, I am there.

Who is that individual you are appointing to act in an acting capacity as director of external partnership?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

In accordance with Section 64, I had the powers.

When you are doing this responsibility, were you not acting under the directions of the Governor?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. persons Chief Officers of substantive departments before they were deployed to act in those respective capacities?

Which one, Sir?

I will refer you to page 295 of volume two. Are you there?

The County Assembly’s document?

Yes, page 295.

Yes, I am.

Please, read item No.6 on Elijah Kimathi Ntonjira. Just after the word food security, read the next.

Please, also read No.3. Kobia Faith Kathure.

To move to the Department of Economic Planning and ICT to perform the functions.

No because it is a deployment?

Is there a reference to acting capacity?

There is no because it is a deployment.

Did this person go through---

Counsel, your time is up. Mr. Maranya Domisiano Mari: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I appreciate you.

Counsel for Governor, would you wish to re-examine the witness? How much time?

Mr. Duncan Okubasu: I will take five minutes or less. I have a few questions for you, Mr. Dickson Munene. One of the questions is about your status in the County Government. You have told this House in cross-examination that you were the Acting County Secretary, holding on to more than one docket. Can you explain that in detail and the circumstances under which that happened?

Mr. Dickson Munene: On 30th September 2022, the Governor nominated me together with nine others for appointment as CECs. The list was forwarded to the Assembly. Only three of us were approved. On 2nd of November, 2022, when we assumed office as the CECM Legal Affairs and Public Service Management and Administration, it effectively meant that the term of the other CECMs had lapsed.

The Governor had to reorganise the Executive in such a way that I had to hold some position in acting capacity. When we came here for the impeachment Motion last year in

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. December, there was an issue that arose that the position of the County Secretary had not been properly filled.

There was a recommendation that the position of the County Secretary should be properly filled, through advertisement and recruitment and approval by the County Assembly. So, the process began and thereafter, I was given the position of acting as the Acting County Secretary and Head of Public Service while still holding my substantive position of the CECM Legal Affairs and Public Service Management.

Mr. Duncan Okubasu: So, it is in that context that you have given this testimony?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Sorry?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

These are people under your docket. Is that correct?

Yes, it is.

So that it is in that capacity that you are giving your testimony today?

So, this is where pre-payment comes in.

Okay, so that there is a legal basis for pre-payments,

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Duncan Okubasu: Is there a distinction between Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) and imprest?

Yes, there is.

Just give a brief summary to the best of your understanding.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Yes.

Yes, I can confirm.

Is that the position?

It is the position.

The fact that a payment is made on a single day does not mean that becomes an impeachable offence.

So that is very regular?

Yes, it is very regular.

There was an issue, I will clarify about the court order. I saw the Stay Order. What did you understand by a Stay Order and what it meant?

Yes, I remember.

Okay. Was that document the original?

It was not the original.

So, it must have been a copy?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

It must have been a copy.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Hon. Senators, we will have 10 minutes for questions and verifications, starting with Sen. Tabitha Mutinda.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. My question will go to the counsel for the Governor.

Let me start by saying that Article 195 of the Constitution is very clear in regards to the powers of the County Assembly with regards to being able to summon, for any person to appear for purposes of giving evidence or information.

Part (b) of that compels for the production of documents. In volume two at Page 31 and 32, we have letters that the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) had been requested to be able to issue audited reports for Financial Year 2022/2023, knowing very well we are currently in the Financial Year 2023/2024.

Apparently, the response to the letter indicated that still the Auditor-General was in the process of auditing the financial statements, which forms part of the response that they had requested and yet we have already close Financial Year 2022/2023.

I would like to get a clarification as to why the CECM Finance was not in a position to be able to submit the audited reports as required as per the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act.

On the same PFM Act, Section 91 states very clearly that the County Assembly should be able to set the capping for the imprest amount. Did the County Assembly have the opportunity to cap the amount of imprest that is supposed to be used as required?

We have seen the Kshs78 million imprest, but what we have in the records as per what has been tabled is amounting to a lesser amount. We would want to know the levels of the amounts of the imprest.

Finally, because I do not think I will get another opportunity, I will be very curious to know, today, which is a key day for this decision for the Meru County, knowing that this is the second impeachment process.

Hon. Governor, you realize that all the MCAs in the first round agreed to your impeachment, knowing very well that the County Assembly is responsible for passing your budgets. If you go back to the same county, how do you then plan on ensuring that these same MCAs, who still impeached you for the second time are still going to ensure that they pass your budget, so that you can continue with the developments required in Meru and offer the Meru people quality services that they deserve?

Those are my simple questions, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Proceed, counsel. Mr. Duncan Okubasu: I did not get that question, but they have some questions to the witness. Perhaps, he can start with those.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Thank you. Probably the question that was posed to me is on what response the CECM Finance gave to the County Assembly when requested to submit an extract on the IFMIS, as per the letter dated 9th October, 2023.

The response that the CECM Finance gave is that the PFM Act, under Section 164, makes provision for the County Treasury of the County Government to prepare and submit

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. the audit to the Auditor-General and the annual financial statements in respect of county governments.

The CECM Finance further says that, it is upon the completion of the audit that a report is submitted to the County Assembly, where within three months after receiving the audit report, the County Assembly can take appropriate action.

So, the audit process is ongoing, while this process finalizes, then the audit report would be tabled to the Assembly and the Assembly can take appropriate action on the same.

Talking of Financial Year 2023/2024 ---

Sen. Tabitha Mutinda, you certainly cannot do that. Proceed, Counsel.

Mr. Duncan Okubasu: I will let the witness also answer the second question which was on why we accounted for less than what was set out there.

Mr. Dickson Munene: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Where we accounted for only Kshs2 million as opposed to Kshs78 million, that has been alleged here because of the manner in which that count was framed was that the Governor has misappropriated funds through specific named persons who are indicated and collectively referred to as ‘the Governor’s relatives.’ It is on this breadth that we endeavoured to account for payment that has been made to these particular persons amounting to Kshs2 million.

Mr. Duncan Okubasu: On the last question, which was overlapping, we have said that there are consequences for disobeying summons by the County Assembly. That is set out in statutes, so that if someone is summoned and they do not appear, the County Assembly like this House, has something it can do to command the enforcement of the orders. That is there. It does not mean that someone has to be impeached.

There are cases where we have seen this House summoning someone who does not appear, but it does not mean that those people become a subject of an impeachment. That is what we are responding to in the context of this discussion.

Sen. Mwaruma.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Mine is a clarification from Mr. Munene. We have some invoices that are not signed by the authorizing officers. He has indicated that they are not signed because the original documents, which have all the signatures, are with the external auditors.

Mr. Speaker, my knowledge of accounting is that the documents that are taken to auditors are original copies and you are left with photocopies. I do not know how they were able to get these documents that they put in the annexures. Where did they fish them from because the ones with all signatures are with external auditors?

Mr. Dickson Munene: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I indicated that we got these documents from the file of the Chief of Staff. Before the Chief of Staff forwards the original documents to the department of finance, he makes a copy. We were given these directives that we need to respond within three days and I requested the Chief of Staff to give me a copy of the file where all these documents are.

Sen. Miraj.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. My question goes to the County Assembly. Are the IFMIS transactions that form the basis of the impeachment of the

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. Governor the same ones under investigation under the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC)?

Respond. Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, we do not know that, but this complaint was also sent to the EACC and many other agencies. We do not know whether EACC is investigating them and there is no evidence either from the Governor or anyone that the EACC is investigating these complaints.

Sen. Olekina.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I have two clarifications. One is from the lawyer. I was listening to---

Which lawyer? There are many lawyers here.

The lawyer for the Assembly - Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu, it is a very good name. We are looking at Section 45 Protection of Public Property and Revenue. He referred to Section 45 (2) (a) (ii) and (iii) . He specifically said goods not supplied or not supplied in full. Secondly, services not rendered or not adequately rendered.

The clarity I need to get from him is whether he is relying 100 per cent on the IFMIS extracts or he has received audited financial statements as per Section 31 of the Public Audit Act. I remind him that Section 31 (5) stipulates that after the audit process, they shall be tabled in Parliament and also at the Assembly. I would appreciate if he clarified this.

Secondly, I asked this question, but I did not get a proper clarification and it has come back again today on the issue of the accounting officer. Section 103 of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act establishes the County Treasury and it puts the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) in charge of Finance as the head of the County Treasury. Section 199 of the PFM Act, which is the penalty clause, stipulates penalties which are going to befall any public officer who is in charge of resources and does not account for them.

Can he kindly clarify whether the documents he has supplied in the case have been audited by the Office of the Auditor-General and an opinion rendered by them on the actual position of those funds?

Counsel, proceed to respond. Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, we answered yesterday that the oversight function of the County Assembly and of the Senate is not conditional upon or dependent on whether there is a report by the OAG. It is no requirement that we have a report from the OAG as a pre-condition for tracing the issues and picking out the problems that the Assembly has picked in this matter.

It is true that under the PFM Act, the accounting officer will either be the CECM Finance or any other person designated. However, what we have found strange and one Senator pointed it out, is that the CECM Finance refused – and it is on record – to submit the documents to the Assembly in our submissions on completely outrageous frivolous grounds.

The second matter we found strange is the documents presented by the Governor in answer to the charges are not authenticated by the CECM Finance, the Chief Officer or other people.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we also found it strange that when this matter arose, the Governor chose to call her head of legal to explain as opposed to the CECM Finance. There is a question of good supplied and services not rendered. We cited Section 45 of the Anti- Corruption Act because it is one of the many sections that address this question of pre- payments. The specific reason we cited it was that in our humble submissions, imprests cannot explain the pre-payments of Kshs78 million. For argument’s sake even if it were accepted that imprests are the answer, that would be an admission to abuse of imprests by the very definition of the same because the law specifies what type of expenses can be defrayed by way of imprests.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Sen. Chimera.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity. I have two questions directed to the witness or the counsel to the Governor.

The response that you have filed before us on page 105 to 112 on the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) payments relates to just three individuals yet, what we have been given by the County Assembly has many other recipients. Perhaps, you can clarify on that.

The other question is on IFMIS payments. They are payments made to one Ms. Jane Karimi Kaitha. On 20th September,2022, she received payments totalling to about Kshs3.9 million in one single day. Are these also IFMIS payments or they related to other services?

If they are not imprest payments, how comes the county government was paying these particular individual IFMIS payments as imprest and not in any other form of payment such as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) ?

Counsel for the Governor, proceed. Mr. Dickson Munene: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The question has been directed to either the counsel or the witness---

Proceed to respond then. Mr. Dickson Munene: The answer as to why we have given documents in relation to the three persons mentioned is in the Motion itself and the manner in which it was framed. It was indicated the allegation was that the Governor has grossly violated the law in the following-

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Thank you. Lastly, Sen. Sifuna.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. To the counsel for the Assembly. There have been repeated references to alleged forgeries. This is specifically with regards to a work ticket whose serial number has appeared severally.

I want the Assembly to clarify whether those documents have been subjected to any verification process which the counsel is aware and whether there is a document examiner’s report to back the allegation or assertion by the Assembly that, in fact, those documents are forgeries.

I thank you.

Proceed, counsel for the County Assembly. Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, we only received those documents on Saturday evening. So, we have not had the opportunity to subject them to forensic examination. However, you do not need to be an expert in forensics to point out that the dates in that work ticket do not follow the natural chronology of events.

You do not have to be an expert in document analysis if you are familiar with the frequency of use of motor vehicles. The same work ticket cannot apply to different motor vehicles or even the same for a period of four months.

It is on that prima facie discrepancies and irregularities that we concluded they were forgeries. Secondly, we concluded they were forgeries because these documents should be easily available in the Governor’s office. They were not availed to the Assembly when requested and also for the impeachment Motion. We are being slapped with them at the tail end.

I thank you.

Counsel for the Governor, you had indicated that you have four witnesses. You may now proceed to call your fourth witness.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Our next and last witness is Hon. Kawira Mwangaza the Governor of Meru County.

By way of time indication counsel, how much time do you think you will need with this witness?

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Mr. Speaker, Sir, in one and half hours, I will be through with the witness.

Swear in the witness kindly.

took the Oath) Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you, your Excellency. Kindly introduce yourself with your full names and the capacity you hold for record purposes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir and hon. Senators. I am Bishop Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. You have received the notice of impeachment and subsequently the County Assembly of Meru resolved to remove you from office through impeachment. Is that the reason why you are before the Senate today?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, I was.

Is that a true description of your personality? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Not at all.

Specifically, the counsel for the County Assembly acccused you of demeaning this House by making a mockery of the impeachment process that found you not guilty in December, 2022. Did you at any time make a mockery of the proceedings?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Counsel for the Governor, the counsel for the County Assembly apologized and sought to have that record expunged. As we are concerned, that particular record does not form part of the record of the Senate.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am most obliged. I withdraw that line of examination in chief and proceed.

Governor, you have been accused of not being capable of working with leaders in Meru County, particularly MCAs. The particular allegation was that you were only able to work for a few weeks after you reconciled with the MCAs. Is that true?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: That is not true. Mr. Elias Mutuma: To the best of your knowledge, for how long have you been having a harmonious working relationship with MCAs?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: We have been working together with MCAs until the last two months.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Are you talking about August and September?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Extra perfect working relationship with MCAs.

What made it possible for you to have this harmonious working relationship with the MCAs? Did you have any intentional efforts to mend the fallout that you had with MCAs? Did you make any efforts after the impeachment?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The first resolution was made by this Senate; the last time we were here. I followed the advice of the Senators. We sat down with the MCAs and had a long discussion with other leaders. From there, we have been working together.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: For lack of a better word, there was the issue of the Ward Development Fund. Were you able to facilitate development projects in all the wards of Meru County?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Immediately after we left the Senate, I facilitated the Ward Development Fund to every MCA to the tune of Kshs10 million. This year it amounts to Kshs15 million for every ward.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. You have produced a video, KMV1, which I ask the technical team to play so that we see the kind of efforts and the fruits that were borne by those efforts.

Secretariat, stop the video. Technical team, work on it, we will get back to it once the system has been worked on. Counsel, proceed. Once we are ready with the video we can come back to it.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Hon. Governor, we have watched a video that is not clear. However, could you explain to the Senate where you were in the meeting recorded? Who were the members present and what was the purpose?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: We were on the premises of the County Assembly of Meru with all the 69 MCAs and the County Woman Representative. We agreed that the past was over we started working together for the sake of Meru County.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. Can you remember the date of---

Have we seen the Mover of this Motion in that clip? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, the Leader of the Majority.

In that clip, is there any indication that you bragged about the fact that you went scott-free?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I used it because it is a slogan for development. The speed of development in Meru County. That is “Kaende kaende, kabati kabati”.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: For us to understand, what does the slogan mean? What is Kabati? What is kaende?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: “Kabati” means accelerating to the fullness of everything that is at the highest speed possible. Then “kaende kaende” is nonstop. It means that the development will be nonstop and at a very high speed.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: When the Mover of the Motion tells the Senate that “Kaende kaende, kabati kabati” is a do not care slogan, that says you do not care about anything. Is this a misinformation and distortion of facts?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is.

Thank you. In many instances, you are seen using the slogan “Kaende kaende, kabati kabati”.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It was done.

Can we watch video KMV2.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Which month was that? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I do not remember the month.

Is it recent? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is very recent.

Thank you. Hon. Mawira seems to be making certain remarks about your performance. What he is saying?

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As the Governor, I go round all the wards and then give the list of all the development projects to the area MCA to read to the people and understand. Also, for us to be accountable for the funds. We do a visit to every ward with the area MCA. I usually carry a booklet of the ward and flagship projects for the area MCA to read to the people for them to understand what we are doing. That is what exactly the Majority Leader is doing in his own ward.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Can you recall the number of projects that he is mentioning by name, that have been done in his particular Ward?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: That particular day, we were opening a bridge. He was talking about the roads done, the boreholes and so many other things that we did with more that Kshs15 million.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. I have actually retrieved the date of that event. It was 2nd August, 2023. Was it not?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, and also maybe being misled.

Thank you. As of 2nd August, 2023, the Mover of the Motion thought that you were perfect and in good working relation with at least all the MCAs?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is less than three months ago.

Less than three months ago?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: That is an Okolea programme, run by my family and church. We usually go to do the Okolea every Sunday afternoon. I always invite them if they wish to come and join me. With me is Hon. Mawira, the Mover of the Motion of Impeachment, who was also involved in that operation, Okolea Kaana Ka Meru.

This was 13th August, 2023? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: 13th August, this year.

You were making certain remarks about the capacity in which you were in that event.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

The Members of the County Assembly were again present.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes,

Did they join you in that slogan? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Mr. Speaker, Sir, they joined me in that slogan.

Did they understand the meaning of your slogan? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, they understood the meaning of my slogan.

Hon. Mawira is also making certain remarks about the funders of the Okolea programme. What is he saying about who funds the Okolea programme?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

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Mr. Elias Mutuma: You can pause there for a moment. Thank you. Who is the person making those remarks? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: He is an MCA who was the Mover of the first Impeachment Motion.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: He was the Mover of the previous Impeachment Motion?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: This is the Speaker of the County Assembly of Meru.

Do you confirm that this was an Okolea programme meeting? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes. It was in Mwangathia Ward, Mojwa.

Who is the MCA of Mwanganthia Ward? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is

It is Hon. Njuki. You are also in the company of other people in that video.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Those are all MCAs

They are all MCAs.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Thank you. Again, what date was this? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It was barely three months ago.

Three months ago. Now, you have alluded to some forces that were not happy with this unity between you and the MCAs. I want you to identify and tell us what is happening in the next Video 1D. Kindly, may we play Video 1D?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Thank you. We can pause that video there. Governor, do you confirm that was on 27th August this year?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: That is a pure lie.

This siasa za kibiri movement, I want you to listen carefully to Video 3(a) and see the genesis of the kibiri movement.

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Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. There is another video that will be my last. Kindly play Video clip 3C on the gender profiling and harassment.

Which area is that? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: That is Igembe South where he comes from.

So, he is telling members of his ward to reject the--- Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The Deputy Governor is telling people to reject the poverty programme, which is Okolea; that they should not be ready to receive anything in terms of Okolea.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. (MPs), including the Deputy Speaker of this House. They have started warming him up to be the Governor and take charge because I am just a woman before them.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. It got worse by slaughtering a cow that you had donated. Can we watch KMV 16? Confirm that is the same cow that you had donated and to whom you donated it to.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: What?

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Mr. Elias Mutuma: Can we watch KMV 11 and find out whether the MCAs, indeed, succumbed to the pressure?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Thank you. We can stop there. Hon. Governor, you have seen a series of press conferences by various leaders of the County Assembly, all seeking to withdraw their support. Were the timings of this press conference within the same period of time?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It was within the same period of time.

Can you remember the month? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I think it is not more than two months ago.

That is the month of September?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. that has county government employees and done purely by the County Government of Meru - one cow per one poor family.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Was there any commotion or violence in that event? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: There was no commotion. We started with prayers as you can see and we went there silently without even advertising. Those are just the neighbours that saw what was happening and came just to see.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: You confirm this was in the homestead of one of the poor Meru women?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is in the homestead of the beneficiary.

Thank you. Can we watch that clip again from the begin, all through to the end?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Firstly, have you in any way vilified or demeaned the leaders in Meru? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I have not vilified any leader in Meru.

There was a particular comment you made on a WhatsApp group regarding the Deputy Governor. You said-

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I have answered.

Let us look at the first count – misappropriation and misuse of county resources. You came here and you were also invited to the County Assembly to answer to specific allegations. Correct?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Those specific allegations in respect to embezzlement and misuse of funds are found at 10(a) and (b). Please, confirm that embezzlement is (a) and withdrawal of County funds is (b).

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: These are the only particulars.

So, then you could not have responded to anything that was outside.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I responded to the particulars of the charges.

Let me read to you the embezzlement of County funds through the Governor’s sisters, Rose Kinya, Miriam Guantai, Kenneth Guantai, Nephat Kinyua and Edwin Murangiri. We will not go into whether they are your relatives or not because we did that in another forum.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Just an IFMIS extract so that I do it myself and extract the amount of money for Miriam, Rose, Kenneth and Nephat.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Is there any Motion in (a) and (b) where the amount of Kshs78 million is mentioned to have been embezzled, so that you are able to respond specifically to what you are facing?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: There is nowhere a figure of Kshs78 million is indicated for Miriam, Rose, Guantai and the rest.

Apart from the IFMIS extract? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is only in the IFMIS extract, nowhere else.

You have also said that the basis of the complaint is another complaint by Salesio Mutuma, who tables his own computation and files it with the EACC. Is that correct?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Did you have the guide to lead you to where you are supposed to get materials in support of any claim?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

To the best of your knowledge, was there any audit query or report that was generated by a competent body touching on embezzlement of County funds?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is not conclusive.

Was there any particular order to the documents that you attached as you were preparing them or you were basically looking at the IFMIS extract and giving what you thought was a suitable answer because there was no particular charge or request for you to look at any specific issue?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I tried my best to look at it, so that I can give a feedback.

Had you been properly guided by the Motion you would have done a better job in giving them very specific answers to specific queries?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. Let us proceed to the other charge of Nepotism. First of all, let me ask you about this gentleman called Nephat Kinyua, who has been said to be your brother-in-law. Do you know him?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No. He is an employee of Meru County Government.

Is he married to your sister? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: None of my sisters are married.

Your sisters are single? Mr. Nephat Kinyua cannot then be your brother-in-law.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

That is Edwin. So, he is not again-- Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes. He is not a relative.

Your husband - now that I am at it- has been accused of vilifying other leaders through a musical performance. There was a video that was played. For the sake of time, I will not ask for it to be played, but you are also present. I want you to look at the lyrics of that song. Even before you look at the them, were you present?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Mr. Speaker, Sir, he did not.

Did he make any reference to any other leader by name? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: He did not.

What was the first gentleman saying in his song to the best of your recollection? We have it in Kiswahili. Just read a few at page 251, volume two of the County Assembly’s documents.Very quickly, Governor, I urge you to read. We are pressed for time

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is this one, yes?

Yes, just read it in Kiswahili.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: They want Kawira to come and help them steal. Kawira is against it. When Kawira refuses, they dig---

Mr. Elias Mutuma: I would love you to read the Kiswahili version. The song was sung in Kiswahili version. That is the translation. Kindly read the version. This is also a Kiswahili speaking House.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: “Kila siku wanamtafutia makosa wanataka Kawira awasaidie kuiba. Kawira akakataa na akasema yeye hataki wizi. Wakati alipokataa walianza kumchimbia mashimo. Wanataka Kawira akule pesa nao. Wanataka Kawira akule pesa za barabara. Wanataka Kawira akubali wakule pesa ya dawa hospitalini. Wanataka Kawira awasaidie kula mali yetu.

Igembe nawaeleza kweli kabisa, mpaka sasa sikilizeni kwa makini. Wanapanga pia kuyachukua maisha ya Kawira. Wanapanga sasa kumuua Kawira. Lakini najua kwa maombi yenu huyo shetani ameshindwa katika jina la yesu. Ati walikuwa wanasema tangu ile wakati wa impeachment ya kwanza kuwa Kawira hajawai kunywa chai katika mikahawa ya Kaunti ya Jiji la Nairobi.

Mara ya mwisho ya kunywa chai katika mikahawa ya mji wa Nairobi ni ule wakati wa impeachment. Hiyo ndiyo inafanya maadui wake wakasirike kabisa. Eti wanamtaka Kawira asiende Okolea aende kule Nairobi wakunywe naye chai kwa pesa zenu.

Kawira naye amekataa kata, akasema kazi yake ni mashinani. Wenye wivu wajinyonge. Wenye wivu wajinyonge”

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Is there anything demeaning or targeting any leader in those lyrics?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Nothing. No leader is being targeted or mentioned by name.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Is it true that you are facing a threat to your life, that the first gentleman in a musical performance passed that information?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, it is.

Is there anything wrong with your husband coming to your defence when your life is in danger?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Mr. Speaker, Sir, he should come and defend the wife.

Thank you. You have been accused of assigning diplomatic duties to your two unqualified sisters.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is on Page 10.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, as we peruse through--- Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is Page 15.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I note that my time is up. I am seeking your indulgence for just 30 minutes more for me to wind up.

You need an extra 30 minutes? Mr. Elias Mutuma: Yes, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Most humbly.

Proceed, for the next 30 minutes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. Governor, tell us the response you have offered to the allegation that you assigned your two sisters diplomatic duties.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was invited to the Slovakian Embassy through a courtesy call in Nairobi City County. While on my way, I was diverted to attend a state function at State House. I can explain without reading through it.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Kindly proceed. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: On my way, I was accompanied by the Meru County Secretary, my Personal assistants (PA), bodyguard and driver. However, there was an urgent meeting. I decided to attend the meeting first so that I can join the other team later. The County Secretary went to the embassy.

As I was finishing from State House, they were already done with the meeting. I did not assign my sister any duty. It is because I had travelled with my PA and also the bodyguard to attend the meeting.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Did you later offer an explanation as to who attended that meeting and what was discussed in your Facebook page at page 94?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, to China.

Did that company represent itself as having affiliations with the Chinese Government to the best of your understanding?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes. At first, it associated itself with the state of China.

Initially, you had planned to attend the trip. Is that the position?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, I had planned to attend.

Before that, tell us how often you travel outside the country as the Governor of Meru. How many trips have you had outside the country from the date you were sworn in as Governor?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I have only travelled once.

To which country? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: South Korea.

When was that? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Around six months ago.

What is the practice when you travel? Do you travel together with your team or do they travel in advance? What happened during your last trip to South Korea?

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Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: For preparations and to know what I am supposed to do. Arrange everything before I get there.

Was that the case with the trip to China? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, it was the case.

Who travelled to China and for what purpose did they travel? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Those who travelled to China are four. One is the Waziri for health, the external linkages acting director, my assistant and my bodyguard.

Did you eventually travel to China? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No, I did not.

Why did you not travel to China? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: When my advance team arrived in China it was contrary to what the Chinese people and the brokers had said. The message that was given to our office was different because the private company or the people who came to visit Meru associated themselves with the Chinese Government. Upon arrival of my team, it was contrary to what they said. It was a private business company interested in investing in Meru.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I have read it.

They took them through various companies that manufacture items and could not prove that they had any affiliations with any of those companies.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: They did not have any.

Was it safe for you to proceed to China with that information having been availed to you?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. budgetary facilitation. Were you in any way involved in the reduction and withdrawal of his budgetary facilitation?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No and I cannot do that. In our office, we have an Authority to Incur Expenses (AIE) holder who used to be the chief of staff? He processes other officers' facilitation to travel and offices, and it has been done.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Yesterday during cross-examination, it was discovered that Nephat Kinyua received facilitation on behalf of the Deputy Governor. Is Nephat Kinyua an administrator in the office of the Deputy Governor?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes. It is the Deputy Governor who suggested that Nephat Kinyua be the administrator in his office.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. You have been accused of threatening the Deputy Governor to inflict bodily harm against the governor. This is about one of the WhatsApp groups that you said, “nitafinya kieleweke” Do you remember this WhatsApp post?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

You were not making any reference to the Deputy Governor? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I was not referring to any particular person.

You have also been accused of forcefully breaking, entering and ransacking the Deputy Governor’s office.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. Let us move on to the issue of accusing other leaders of being the 10 cartels in Meru County. In an event where the head of State was in attendance, were you referring to Members of Parliament? This is what was said yesterday.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Counsel, why would one suggest that I was referring to anyone when I have not mentioned anyone?

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Who were you talking about when you said;“Kuna macartel zaidi ya 10”?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: There is a certain story in Kimeru, which I will take one minute to explain. Thieves broke into the home of one person and stole his goat. Then, there was a chief’s meeting with everyone in that village. That old man akaenda akiwa amebeba mkuki. Akasema ya kwamba, “Kati yenu ninaona kuna mtu ambaye ameiba mbuzi yangu. Just in one minute, I will kill that person”. Hakujua ni nani. Mtu mmoja akachomoka mara moja akaenda. That is when the man realised who the person was.

In my case, when I talked about marcartel, I did not mention anyone. I said; this county will not be micromanaged by 10 cartels and few rich people to assume that Meru County is the way they want to paint it bad. I did not mention anyone.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: You did not mention anyone. That is quite important. There are these WhatsApp groups in Meru; County Admin Services and Third Government 012. Are you the administrator of these groups?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I am not. I was added in that group.

Is it an official WhatsApp group in Meru? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No, we do not have an official WhatsApp group in Meru County.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I do not even know the administrator. I was just added.

Did you encourage anyone to demean the Deputy Governor?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, I remember.

Are you the one who sent these people on compulsory leave? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I am not the one.

Who did that? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The County Secretary.

Are you aware that they were sent on compulsory leave? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I was notified after the County Secretary sent them on compulsory leave, due to some allegations that were reported to EACC.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: When I got into office, I met over 800 cases in court.

Were those cases citing the governor as a respondent?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: In all those cases, I was not directly responsible.

Let us talk about the traffic marshals in Meru County. You have been accused of creating this office called traffic marshals without following due process. Did you commit that offence?

Did you later seek the approval of CPSB to create this office? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The County Secretary did it.

Are those discussions ongoing? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The discussions are ongoing.

Thank you. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Counsel, one may ask; who then were the drivers of the boda boda? We have the enforcement team and some few others that were used to pilot the project. We have never employed any single person for that duty.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Of course, to provide leadership. In some way, I may be involved where by directly giving a direction maybe via a memorandum because a government has a way of communication. In this case, in all these allegations before me today, I have not alluded my signature in any of them, neither have I been given a memorandum for the accusations that are before me.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: The very last one. We have seen – and I do not wish to go deep into it – the County Assembly trying to make a big deal of some payments that were done to Rose on one day and other members of county government. Is it that these people were being paid for forged imprest or why is it that there is an indication of many payments done on one day? To the best of your understanding, though you may not have the technical bit.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Mr. Speaker, Sir, in county governments, we do not receive funds in one bunch. At times, funds are delayed and some functions such as travelling and meetings have to continue. In most cases, they do using their own money. They are then paid when money lands into our accounts. The issue of 10 payments in a day might have been a delay of payments which had not been done for a month or two.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: When you travel, is money put into your account or it is deposited in the account of your PA?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Since I became a Governor, no single coin has ever been deposited to my account.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: How do you travel? Who then receives that money for your facilitation?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is the PA and the administrators.

Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, Sir, that is all for this witness. I wish to hand her over for cross- examination.

County Assembly, you may proceed to do your cross- examination. By way of indication, counsel for the County Assembly, how much time do you need?

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, if it finds favour with you, we request for two and a half hours. We only make this request based on the scope of the issues covered by the witness. They are not issues we can address in a short time. Our main witness was cross-examined for a similar amount of time. It is only fair for purposes of equality of arms.

Governor, Hon. Kawira Mwangaza good afternoon? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Good afternoon, counsel.

Would you agree that the cultural structure, values and attitudes of the Mt. Kenya community are substantially similar, even though there may be small details of variation?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: So it is your case that the cultures of Ameru, Embu, and Agikuyu are vastly different?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: They are different.

Are they mutually intelligible?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Anyway, is the governor of Embu a man or a woman? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: She is a woman.

To the best of your knowledge, is this woman governor being hounded out by some misogynistic male leadership?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I cannot testify to that.

To the best of your knowledge, has the woman governor of Embu been impeached three times? Has she faced three impeachment Motions in the last one year?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: True.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: True.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Homa Bay County, which is a different cultural area, has a woman Governor. Is it correct or incorrect?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Several times.

Have you adduced that evidence in your response? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No, because it was not part and parcel of my response.

Meru has a Woman Representative, correct or incorrect?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Pardon!

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Indeed, the motivations of the MCAs, you will agree, are therefore irrelevant as long as there is evidence in support of the charge.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: There is no support in the charge.

That is for the Senate to decide, but assuming there is evidence in support of the charge, is it your position the charge would fail even though there is evidence the MCAs are driven by an ulterior motive?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the charges should have evidence.

If they have the evidence, my question is; would the evil intentions on the part of the MCAs undo that evidence? Would the evidence cease to exist because the MCAs are acting maliciously?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, on the evidence

That is a very useful answer. Let us go to the complaint by Salesyo. That would be from Page one of volume two. You just told the Senate that the reason you did not account for the entire Kshs78 million is because the Motion only related to your assistants. Is that still your position?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Incorrect.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: So, you agree you were given sufficient notice that the Assembly will be relying on the complaint by Salesyo by the Motion itself. Correct or incorrect?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Incorrect.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Fair enough. Do these 100 people work in your office? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I am not aware of everyone who works in my office.

Does Page 17 indicate these are transactions by persons who work in your office. At the top of Page 17.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I do not think so.

Can you read the first item on that Page 17. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Votes 3552 Meru Office of the Governor.

You will agree the document itself indicates it is about transactions in your office not another office.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: While you were seated here, we pointed out only 12 transactions lie in the previous regime. All the others have happened when you were the Governor. Correct or incorrect?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: That is why you want me to know everyone, including those who worked in the previous regime, from these documents.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: You will not get away from this by being clever. Can you see Page 17? You confirmed the transactions begun on 1st July when Mr. Kiraitu Murungi was the governor. Right?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I am not an accountant.

Unfortunately, you are the Governor. So, answer my question.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I repeat that the IFMIS extract is not the final document.

Madam Governor, that is not my question. The question is: Would your County Executive Committee Member (CECM) Finance, Chief Officer

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. (CO) Finance and your own Chief of Staff who is the accounting officer in your office have login credentials to IFMIS?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: They have.

Good. Therefore, when the Meru County Assembly asked you to present the IFMIS extract, all your officials needed was to log in, print and submit. Correct or incorrect?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: There was a reply by the ---

Answer my question. All they needed to do if there was any reason to doubt the authenticity of this IFMIS was to log in and print.

Madam Governor, just answer the question, please.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: They have the right to print the--- Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Yes, therefore, you will acknowledge that all they needed to put this matter to rest if there was no embezzlement was to log in and print. Correct or incorrect?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Incorrect.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Is this generated from my office or the Salesio?

It is from your office. It is in your response, Madam Governor.

Counsel, you are insisting that she has typed and she is saying that they did not. Can you re-ask the question so that she can answer directly?

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: On its face, the document in your defense, is it generated from IFMIS or manually typed? That should be clear from the face of the document.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: This is the summary of the IFMIS payment. Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: It is not an extract from IFMIS. Is it or is it not?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is an extract of the IFMIS.

Does it have a time stamp? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Time what?

Time stamp.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Where is the time stamp? Show it to us. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It has the voucher number, the pay extract---

I am not talking about the voucher number, but the time stamps. System-generated report from IFMIS indicates when they were printed and downloaded. They leave a footprint of who keyed them and when.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I am not refusing to answer any question.

I put it to you that you are dodging my questions. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Which one particularly?

Whether the report on page 105 of your defense is a system-generated document or a document typed on a desk by someone.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Kshs88,609,373.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Let us go to Lidya Nkatha same page No.10. Again, Salesio has outlined many payments where the description is not applicable. Correct or incorrect in the face of it?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Let me see the booklet that I have accounted for.

You have only accounted for Kshs2.6 million, Madam Governor, for all the relatives and yet for just one of them, the amount irregularly disbursed is Kshs2.7 million. I am putting it to you that the sum of the amounts of money you have accounted for, for all your relatives, is smaller than the amount paid to just one of them as per this document.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Who is right now? Is it our officials or the activist?

Answer my question.

Counsel, what is your question?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Is it the county officials in Meru who keyed in the data on IFMIS?

Governor? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, it is the county officials for our case. Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Therefore, you will agree with me that if there is any misrepresentation of hospitals as hospitality in IFMIS, the person that should take responsibility for that is your own officials. Correct or incorrect?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct and that is why we have another process. Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: I have received my answer, Madam Governor. You have said it correctly. You have given an explanation that the reason your officials and relatives receive all these payments is by way of imprest. That is why IFMIS is captured as pre- payment. Is that true?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Again, you are dodging my question. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Repeat the question.

The question is, is an imprest surrendered and accounted for within seven days?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Imprest is surrendered within specific dates.

My question is very easy. By law, should an imprest be surrendered within seven days? It is either a yes or no. Should an imprest be surrendered and accounted for within seven days? What is your answer, Madam Governor?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I am not sure if it is within seven days.

Fair enough. You will also agree with me this report covers an entire financial year, July to the last date there. Correct or incorrect?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Correct.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Repeat.

Can you be clearer in your question? Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: When an officer takes an imprest, are they not given cash. Is that not why it is indicated as prepayment because they have been given cash to expend and later account?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It depends on whether---

It is yes or no, Madam Governor. Can one be given an imprest without a cash disbursement to them? Would you call that an imprest?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is a prepayment.

Madam Governor, I put it to you, you cannot have it both ways. It is your case that the reason these items appear as imprest on IFMIS is because they were by way of imprest. Is that not your defence, Madam Governor?

Counsel, can you ask clearly? What question do you want her to answer?

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: The question, Madam Governor, that I am putting to you is that your answer is that officers take imprest and then later on when money is disbursed from the Treasury they are paid, that is why they are paid several---

What is the question? Are you putting it to her or you are asking her?

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: I am putting it to her. Your answer which you gave in chief cannot hold that the reason your relatives have several payments on the same day is that money is paid after the event and after there has been an accumulation. That cannot be correct because an imprest is always supported by hard cash. So, it is given on a cash basis. So, the question of waiting for money does not hold.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: These are prepayments and these are monies requested for activities. Not paid before. When the money arrives at the county government, they are paid. For example, if I am travelling today from here to a certain destination, we will use our own resources and later surrender the documents for the person concerned to receive the payment.

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Let us use your example, Madam Governor. Pause it there. If you travel today using your own money, which will be refunded later, would you be given an imprest for spending your own money?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: You will be paid for spending--- Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: That is not my question, Madam Governor. You are going on a trip and we all agree it happens every day. Will use your own money to be refunded later? Are you given an imprest on that occasion when you are travelling from your own pocket to claim later?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: You will be given imprest if there are some goods you are required to buy in cash. The amount of money that, Counsel, we are discussing is the Office of the Governor where there are no projects apart from the usage of money by way of travels and other things like the purchase of items in the Office of the Governor.

No project is done in the Office of the Governor. How else do you expect the Office of the Governor to work or to receive money if not through this form?

Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: I did not ask you another question about projects.

Counsel, can you wrap up on that question? I think the Senate might be able to appreciate the issue of imprest. I request you move to the next question.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Madam Temporary Speaker, my name is Boniface Mawira and I have a few questions for the Governor. Madam Governor, we were told by your witness, the CECM for Legal and Public Service Management that the originals of the surrendered documents are with the auditors. Is that your position?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: That is why we have---

No. It is a yes or no question. Would you agree with me then that the documents you have provided here, because they are not signed and the original ones which are with the auditors are signed then these documents obviously are not a proper representation of copies of the documents you submitted to the auditors?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: They are the same documents submitted to the auditors.

Madam Temporary Speaker, I think at this point I will invite the Senate to make a necessary conclusion.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

By law, whose responsibility is it to appoint chief officers? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The County Public Service Board.

Governor, maybe I can clarify there. The position of the law if you check Section 45 of the County Governments Act, is that the Governor appoints chief officers on recommendation of the County Public Service Board (CPSB).

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Counsel, I would like you to ---

It is a yes or no question, Governor, so that we move. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is not.

So, you have not appointed these persons? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I have not appointed them.

Okay. I will refer you then to officer No. 1 - Naomi Kamunde, that is appearing--- Can you read aloud what the document states at No.1?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I want to read from slightly above No.1

Okay, you can start there then.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Redeployment.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Is that appointment?

No. We have agreed that the power to appoint resides in you as the Governor, correct?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: In this case---

No, it is a yes or no question, Governor. Is it your position that in appointing Chief Officers in acting capacity, the Governor need not to consult the CPSB? Is that your evidence?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Who has signed this document?

Madam Temporary Speaker, I think at this point, I will seek your protection, may the witness answer the question.

Is it a yes? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Repeat it.

Is it your evidence that in appointing chief officers, in whatever capacity whether substantive or acting, the Governor need not to consult the CPSB? Is that your evidence?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Okay.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It reads- “This is advisory to the County Secretary and the Head of Public Service with respect to the establishment of offices appointment, including acting appointments to all levels of staff. Please, note that it is the sole statutory responsibility of the CPSB as guided by Sections 59 (1) (a) and (b), 63 and 64 of the County Governments Act, 2012, read together with Section 34, Act, 2017 and Section 16 and 23 of the Public Service Commission (PSC) Regulations, 2020. Any other appointments done outside this is deemed null and void.”

Mr. Boniface Mawira: The CPSB says that, all appointments including acting appointments at all levels of staff is by law and the laws are quoted there. It is the sole statutory responsibility of the Board. Correct?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Is the County Secretary---

Counsel, sorry to interrupt. I would like to alert all parties of the timelines that we are going to follow and we are going to strictly adhere to this-

The cross-examination will end at 7.10 p.m. without any extra minute. The re-examination will start from 7.10 to 7.30 p.m. The clarification by Senators will start from 7.30 to 7.50 p.m. Then we will have the closing statement on behalf of the County Assembly for 60 minutes from 7.50 p.m. to 8.50 p.m.

Then the closing statement on behalf of the Governor for 60 minutes from 8.50 p.m. to 9.50 p.m.

From 9.50 p.m. to 10.00 p.m., we will have an in-camera session and the Senate will then have debate on the Motion and Division between 10.00 p.m. and 11.50 p.m.

This is to alert you that you bear that in mind. Thank you. Mr. Boniface Mawira: Very well, Madam Temporary Speaker. We are guided accordingly.

Governor, back to the question. The specific letter on page 295 is issued on the letterhead of the Office of the Governor and we have agreed that the Governor is the

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. appointing authority for chief officers. Is the County Secretary a staff in the Office of the Governor?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The County Secretary is a member of staff in the County Government of Meru.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: You will agree with me that the County Secretary is the Head of the Public Service and is therefore not a staffer in the Office of the Governor.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, Madam Temporary Speaker.

In as much as you may want to say that the County Secretary was signing on your behalf, he is not a staffer in your office?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: That is not disputed.

The Board however was not involved in the appointment of the acting chief officers as per the Act. That is apparent on the face of the documents. Do you agree?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I am not the one that was writing to them.

However, you agree that what is what the Board says. That is obvious.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: That is according to the letter.

The CPSB disowns your appointment and says that the appointment of the 17 chief officers, whom you have appointed on the 23rd of August, most in acting capacity, was done without its involvement. Correct? Governor, it is a yes or no question so that we move.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I specifically did not appoint any person.

Madam Temporary Speaker, we are constrained to seek your directions because the rules of cross-examination are that, a witness answers questions and does not tell stories. The reason we seek your direction and perhaps, invocation of your powers and relevant Standing Orders is that we believe this witness is engaging in an altercation knowing very well our time is limited, so that we do not have the opportunity to put to her all the relevant questions that we need to put.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Hon. Governor, please answer the questions as asked.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Counsel, I have never appointed any of these---

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Not my appointments.

Who is the appointing authority? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The person who has signed here.

Governor, are you saying that you have abdicated your roles as governor and delegated your authority to appoint to the County Secretary?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Madam Temporary Speaker, let me explain.

Is there an authority, yes or not? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: These acting chief officers are directors in the same office---

Madam Governor, they want a yes or no answer. Just answer whether you delegated or not.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No one has been sourced from outside. These are directors at acting capacity awaiting substantive recruitment.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Madam Temporary Speaker, I will leave the Senate to draw a conclusion on that question.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Governor, turn with me to page 68 of our volume two. For purposes of clarity, in examination in chief, you stated that you did not travel to China.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I never travelled to China.

Did you seek clearance to travel to China? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, I did.

However, you did not travel? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, Madam Temprary Speaker.

The question is the persons in the letter signed by the County Secretary makes reference to ‘following the invitation to the Governor of Meru County, the following technical team’. The wording is technical team, correct?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, I never did.

Governor, in your defense, your relatives travelled as part of an advance team, yet in the letter on 5th June, 2023, we see that you tried to obtain clearance on the same day.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes. Madam Temporary Speaker. It is.

Fair enough. Governor, on page 87, we see Mr. Nephat Kinyua Meme whose title is designated as the Director Internal for Linkages. Correct?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Later moved to? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Acting Director External Linkages.

Was he competitively recruited by the Board in order for him to act?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: He was an employee of the county government---

Was he formally appointed by the CPSB in that acting capacity?

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Yes Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: The advisory by the CPSB that I have just shown you in our bundle, it says that all appointments whether acting or substantive in all levels of the County Public Service are the exclusive statutory responsibility of the CPSB. Is that not a violation of the law, Governor?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It depends on the County Secretary---

Does it depend on the County Secretary or what the law says? Is it a matter of discretion or compliance with what the law says?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes. I am.

The foremost peacemaker?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

It was long before the impeachment Motion was tabled? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It depends.

Between May and 16th October, 2023, its roughtly four months. Correct?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I am a member.

Who are the other members of that group? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: They are so many members. I do not know the number.

Does it include members of the public? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes. Madam Temporary Speaker.

As per your defense, at page 155, in the other group, we saw Mr. Mutia, the Chief of Staff remove the Deputy Governor from this group, which was on May 27th. Correct?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, I can see the message.

I want you to read it out loud. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: I can see that it is Mr. Gitobu Nkanata, who has copy pasted again---

Kindly turn to page 163 where it is Gov. Mwangaza. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Page 163. Where is Gov. Mwangaza here?

At the top. That is your message, Governor. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Okay “The Deputy Governor mobilized few walevi” -- - should I continue?

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Pardon?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: They will get it the hard way.

Madam Temporary Speaker, the correct translation is on page 446. I will not spend much time on it. It seems the Governor will not---

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

When was the message written? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It was after.

Governor, we can follow through all the way from May 20th to 27th when the Deputy Governor was removed from the group. The video we played here by the Deputy Governor was from 20th September, 2023.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Are you saying you reposted this message after 20th September, 2023?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No, not myself but

Governor, it is your message. I am not concerned with the message from Mr. Gitobu Nkanata. I am talking about your message. After 20th September, 2023, you still reposted this message despite having posted it before.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: This was after the verification by the Deputy Governor.

You are saying you have posted this message twice? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Not after the verification.

You cannot have it both ways, Governor. Governor, turn to page 170 where you refer to the Deputy Governor. Read the message aloud.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: What about this one I have just read?

The messages on page 179 are all inconsistent with the theme that you are the foremost peacemaker in Meru County. True or false?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: False.

Counsel, which video?

Technical staff, what is happening? Did you say 3A?

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Yes, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Is there a problem with 3A? Counsel, proceed to another question as they prepare.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Madam Temporary Speaker, on this point, I wanted the videos to be played in quick succession in the interest of time so that I ask questions after all four videos have been played.

Who submitted the videos? Is it in a flash disc?

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Madam Temporary Speaker, we submitted three flash discs.

Technical staff, this is a clip from the County Assembly. Which flash disc is it in?

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Madam Temporary Speaker, I do not remember the model.

The team from the County Assembly, kindly assist.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Madam Temporary Speaker, it is in a folder labelled as ‘videos in support of count three’. Inside the folder, is video 3A.

Technical team, are you able to get that?

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Madam Temporary Speaker, I request that video number 3B be played.

Is that the video? Mr. Boniface Mawira: Yes, I want all the videos to be played, then I can pose the questions.

Proceed to play video clip 3B. Mr. Boniface Mawira: Madam Temporary Speaker, I request that video number 3C be played. I am strained for time.

Okay, proceed to play video clip 3C.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: Madam Temporary Speaker, I request that video number 3D be played. This is the final video.

Okay, proceed.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: You can pause at that. The relevant transcripts for the first video are at page 446. For the last video, which is in Meru language, it is at page 448 to

(Laughter) What is your answer? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: She is meek.

The Governor you see on that video is not bullish, she is very meek. That is your evidence?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: How do you term bullish?

Very well. I think I will just leave it at that. In the last video, who is Kakobia? Whom do you refer to when you say Kakobia? Is it not the Deputy Speaker of this Hon. House?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Boniface Mawira: I am asking whom you referred to. Not his name but whom were you referring to?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: We have so many tukofias in Meru.

Very well. Madam Governor, there is a work ticket that has been used 17 times. I do not have time to show you the work ticket. I will just refer you to the page numbers. Work ticket No.874 was used 17 times in total in January, February, March and April. This work ticket has been used on pages 104, 118, 129, 138 all the way to page 327.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Counsel, as I answer your question---

Is it possible? It is a yes or no answer question. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Out of the 600 vehicles we have in Meru County, is the Governor supposed to verify work tickets for every vehicle?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Please, save my time. I do not have much of it. Are you there?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It has not employed traffic marshalls.

That is page 392. Can you see Item No.1?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, but we have not---

Thank you. Now, I will refer you to our Volume 4, page 150.

Counsel, you will have to hurry up. You hardly have any minute.

Mr. Eric Muriuki: Madam Temporary Speaker, I would like to beg your indulgence, remembering that the secretariat took quite a number of minutes trying to get the videos. I humbly request that you accord me just five more minutes and I will be done.

Counsel, I will accord you three minutes to make up. You might also want to expedite when you are guiding.

Mr. Eric Muriuki: Page 150, Volume 4, on the third paragraph, you will confirm that that is an extract of the HANSARD of Meru County Assembly. Hon. Senators can also confirm. Governor, you will confirm that your advocate, on record for that day, admitted that you appointed the traffic marshalls since they were in your manifesto? That is the third paragraph. I have underlined the relevant part. Can you please read for us the underlined part?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The voters in Meru accepted the manifesto of boda bodas and the marshalls were part of the manifesto that swayed the voters in Meru. They elected the Governor based on that manifesto. They did not elect the others who did not mention boda bodas.

A mandate is derived from the manifesto. That is why a manifesto as an independent candidate---

Mr. Eric Muriuki: Thank you. That makes my point. The next page at page 52, please, confirm that on that page, through your counsel on record on that day you admit that you have not assigned any duties to your Deputy and therefore your Deputy should not be paying any bills or asking for any budgetary allocation.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: The Deputy Governor is paying his bills. He has not been assigned duties by the Governor. Why is he paying; to do which duties? Which bills is he paying because we have four types of bills?

Mr. Eric Muriuki: Thank you. Which duties has he been assigned? That is what your counsel asked on record asked.

My final question, I will refer you to page 339 of our Volume 2---

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Counsel, please, wind up. Mr. Eric Muriuki: Madam Temporary Speaker, this is the final question. Page 339, volume two.

Counsel, your time is up. Mr. Eric Muriuki: My final question. I was waiting for the Governor to get the page.

On that page, who has made that post? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is me. Mr. Eric Muriuki: Owning the changes in the saga that is the Liquor Board and the Revenue Board more specifically. Is that correct?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Press release. Mr. Eric Muriuki: It was from you. Therefore, Madam Governor, you cannot run away from the letters on pages 336, 337 and 338, on the same volume, which send these officers on compulsory leave with full payment that you have already owned in your own press release. Am I right?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: You are not right. Mr. Eric Muriuki: Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I am done.

As the team for the County Assembly prepares for re-examination, we will be strict with time.

Hon. Senators, I have a Communication to make on the address to Parliament by His Excellency the President, pursuant to Article 132 (1) (b) and (c) of the Constitution.

Hon. Senators, as you may recall on a sitting of the Senate held on Thursday, 2nd November, 2023, I communicated the request by His Excellency the President to deliver his inaugural Address to Parliament in accordance with Article 132 (1) (b) and (c) of the Constitution.

This is therefore to remind you that His Excellency the President will deliver his inaugural State of the Nation Address to Parliament during a Joint Sitting of the Houses of Parliament tomorrow, Thursday, 9th November, 2023 at 2.30 p.m. in the National Assembly Chamber.

Hon. Members, to ensure a smooth flow of motor traffic and to ensure that preparations towards facilitation of this event are well carried out; parking for Members of Parliament has been reserved at the COMESA parking lot in KICC and the parking lot next to the County House on Parliament Road.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

All vehicles parked around main Parliament Buildings, that is the rear gate, canteen area, parliamentary courtyard and the Senate Parking should be removed by close of business today, Wednesday, 8th November, 2023. Your cooperation on this matter is highly appreciated.

I thank you. Now, to the County Assembly team, you have 20 minutes for re-examination. If you take 15 minutes, we will be grateful.

(Resumption of presentation of the case of the Meru County Governor)

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I will do it in less than 15 minutes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes, barely a week.

Did you have any particular reason or any grudges to send these individuals for compulsory leave?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No,

What is it? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Advisory on transfers and appointments.

Confirm to us that advisory is from the County Public Service Board (CPSB) to Chief Officers not to the Governor.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Redeployment.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: This is done for so many people in one letter.

Is any of those people a new person that is not yet working with the County Government of Meru?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: All of them have been working since 2015, 2016 as Directors and other senior officers in the County Government of Meru.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: Is there anywhere the salaries or renumeration of those persons is mentioned?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Does that appear anywhere in that? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It does not appear.

In your evidence, does that amount to employment? Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It does not.

Is there anything that bars the County Secretary from making changes within interdepartments within the county government?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Yes.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: This is a mere complaint by Thuranira Salesio Mutuma.

The table that bears the total of Kshs2.7 million is not from the IFMIS extract. Is that not it?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: It is not from the IFMIS extract.

Thank you. When you look at the charges that you faced, was there anywhere where any specific amount was mentioned that was received by any of the people termed as your relatives that you were supposed to explain why they received such money? Specifically figures.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: No specific figure.

Thank you. That will be all for this witness, Madam Temporary Speaker.

Thank you so much. Mr. Elias Mutuma: Perhaps, I can ask just one question with your leave Madam Temporary Speaker.

Okay. Mr. Elias Mutuma: Thank you. Governor, what would you plead the Senate to do having heard the case from the County Assembly having given your evidence? What is it that you ask this Hon. House to do for you?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Madam Temporary Speaker, I humbly request this Honourable House, a constitutional house, to see as you have heard all the allegations tabled before me. I am appearing as a third, fourth and fifth party in all these accusations.

It is my humble request that as you sit as judges, I am forced to answer allegations that are done or some issues that do not directly involve the Governor of Meru. In these allegations, there is nowhere that I have signed any document or delegated anywhere to any person via the allegations tabled today before this honourable Senate.

Madam Temporary Speaker, today, I do not count it as an unfortunate day for me because at least the whole world has known the truth. I urge this honourable Senate and Members that as you sit today to consider this matter and give justice.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. That will be the close of our case.

Thank you, Counsel. We now move on to clarifications by Senators. I request that we strictly adhere to the 2 minutes so that we give as many Senators an opportunity. We will begin with Sen. Wakili Sigei.

This session will end at 7:50 p.m. as I had said earlier. It is about 20 minutes. Sen. Wakili Sigei, when done, please, approach the Chair.

Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. Three things trouble me. I will seek three clarifications from the Counsel for the Governor, Mr. Elias Mutuma.

One, I want to get your response, in particular to the allegation with regards to a gentleman by the name of Nephat whose employment history dates back to 2016, employed at Job Group H and in 2023 acted in Job Group R; and the document that we have been given, appearing at page 384 of the County Assembly’s bundle from the County Public Service Board (CPSB) .

Two, Witness No.3, Mr. Munene Nganata, in paragraph 13 of his affidavit, referred to employees whose position at the time of employment was cleaners. The document which has been submitted as evidence before the House appears on pages 407 and 374. The responses that will clear my mind will probably be the ones coming from you. Based on what Mr. Nganata was asked, his response is not clear to me.

Lastly, your position on a number of videos which entertained this House on oathing. On one hand, there was an element of some---

Sen. Osotsi?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I direct this clarification to the Counsel for the County Assembly. There seem to be disparities in the document submitted by the County Assembly in relation to the invitation letter to China. The document submitted by the

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. County Assembly on Page 60 differs in content from the document submitted by the Governor on page 425 of the bigger document of evidence.

However, when you look at the two documents keenly, the document for the County Assembly does not refer to the other assignment the County Government went to do in China, that is, housing and agriculture. However, another document attached on page 68 of the County Assembly bundle confirms that housing and agriculture was one of the functions.

So, my concern, which I want clarification from the Counsel for the County Assembly, is to explain the deviation in the two letters; the letter by the Governor and the letter by the County Assembly and explain to this House which letter is the correct letter to go with.

Counsel for the Governor, proceed to respond to the question that was asked by Sen. Wakili Sigei and then the Counsel for the County Assembly, you will respond to the question raised by Sen. Osotsi.

Mr. Elias Mutuma: In response to Sen. Wakili Sigei’s question, my understanding of job grouping is that the position to which a person is appointed then dictates the job group they will fall into. So, one would rise from one job group based on the new position that they have been given.

My understanding is that we have Chief Officers appointed as CECMs, therefore, necessitating the change of their job groups. That would be the simple answer to that question.

I will invite my friend Mr. Mutembei to answer the other question about the cleaners.

Mr. Robert Mutembei: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to respond to the question from Sen. Wakili Sigei. The question was asking why some cleaners appear to be categorised as Senior Support Staff in the payslips that have been produced in the bundle of documents by the County Assembly. Notwithstanding the fact that the witness confirmed that their payslips cannot be authenticated, it is the position that cleaners are support staff.

The support staff and cleaners would be categorized as senior support staff based on their salary. If you look at the payslip that has been produced, the one that appears as senior support staff is earning a basic salary of Kshs18,000. That is in tandem with the role of a senior support staff. That would be the simple answer. Thank you.

Proceed, Counsel for County Assembly. Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the question was as to discrepancies between the letter at page 425 of the Governor's bundle and the letter at page 60 of the County Assembly's bundle.

It is indeed true that there are discrepancies. That is why we have kept telling you that the Governor has forged the documents she has presented to you and here is why –

If you check the document at page 60 of the Assembly's bundle, you will note that it bears the stamp of the County Government and received by the County Government on 25th April. The one that the Governor has produced is not stamped by her own County Government. That is one indication of what we call forging of documents.

In response to Sen. Wakili Sigei’s question, my understanding of job grouping is that the position to which a person is appointed then dictates the job group they will fall into. So, one would rise from one job group based on the new position that they have been given. My understanding is that we have Chief Officers appointed as CECMs, therefore, necessitating the change of their job groups. That would be the simple answer to that question. I will invite my friend Mr. Mutembei to answer the other question about the cleaners. Mr. Robert Mutembei: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to respond to the question from Sen. Wakili Sigei. The question was asking why some cleaners appear to be categorised as Senior Support Staff in the payslips that have been produced in the bundle of documents by the County Assembly. Notwithstanding the fact that the witness confirmed that their payslips cannot be authenticated, it is the position that cleaners are support staff. The support staff and cleaners would be categorized as senior support staff based on their salary. If you look at the payslip that has been produced, the one that appears as senior support staff is earning a basic salary of Kshs18,000. That is in tandem with the role of a senior support staff. That would be the simple answer. Thank you.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if there is any other doubt, when you go to page 68 of our bundle, the County Secretary when they wrote to the Ministry, attached the letter inviting them to China. The letter that the County Secretary attached is the version that the County Assembly has produced and it is attached at page 69 of our bundle with the same stamp.

It is our submission therefore that the Governor must have forged these documents as we have been saying all along at page 425 of our bundle.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if there is any other doubt, when you go to page 68 of our bundle, the County Secretary when they wrote to the Ministry, attached the letter inviting them to China. The letter that the County Secretary attached is the version that the County Assembly has produced and it is attached at page 69 of our bundle with the same stamp.

It is our submission therefore that the Governor must have forged these documents as we have been saying all along at page 425 of our bundle.

Proceed, Sen. Joe Nyutu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. My question goes to the Governor in relation to Okolea Programme. So, Governor, who funds the Okolea Programme? It is in the public domain that the activities of Okolea Programme were once banned by the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration. In your own view, was it banned?

Two, the image that has been portrayed of the relationship between the Governor and the County Assembly Members has been very rosy, especially after the past impeachment proceedings. Governor, where and why did the rain start beating you, as in the relationship between you and the MCA?

Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir. Those are my questions.

Governor, proceed to respond. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir. The Okolea Programme, as I said before, has been there for the last 12 years. It is purely funded by the Baite Family Fellowship, where I am the Bishop. All the offerings we get from the church, the pastors and the members of the church take all the money to buy blankets and mattresses.

I also donate 50 per cent of my salary towards the Okolea Programme. It is purely a programme by the church and my family. It is funded by the donation made in our church and my 50 per cent contribution from my salary.

The issue of banning the Okolea Programme, just came the other day when we had one at Igembe, where my Deputy Governor incited the youths as you saw in the video. They slaughtered the cow that was supposed to be donated to a poor woman. There were chaos. From that event, the Cabinet Secretary came and said that because of the unrest in Meru, he had to ban the Okolea Programme until there is rest in Meru. It was not banned permanently.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, in his own wisdom, he decided and acted, so that we get peace and continue as a church. It is purely a church programme. From the day I left this Senate during the first impeachment, we worked well with the MCAs until the last two months, when external forces were trying to interfere with the leadership because of 2027 politics.

That is the whole truth. As I stand here, I know that the MCAs have no issues with the Governor, apart from the external forces. This is forcing them to cause a lot of confusion in Meru, for those who have decided that they will run for the position of county governor, for them to have space and a route via the deputy governor or showing that Meru does not work.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Governor, in the event that the Senate finds, for the second time, that none of the allegations made against you have been substantiated what will happen to Meru County? How do you plan to work with the Deputy Governor because you have stated and accused him of having planned to impeach you and also plotted all the current activities?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I believe prayer works. I will continue to pray for those with a big appetite to become governor for God to lower their appetite so that we have time to work for the people of Meru. Secondly, when we left this place, it took us just a month for us to come together and start working.

It is very possible and doable that we can mend all our differences and put Meru first rather than our own interests. As a woman of God, I will forgive everyone.

Thank you. Sen. Nyamu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I wish to seek clarification from the hon. Governor regarding allegations raised by the counsel for the County Assembly on appointment of chief officers.

Section 42 (2) of the County Governments Act states clearly that the office of the chief officer shall be an office in the county public service and at the same time, Section 44 (3) (a) of the same Act indicates that the county secretary shall be head of that county public service.

In consideration of these two provisions, do you feel that your mandate about the operations of the chief officer goes only up to nominating and appointing the chief officers on approval by the county assembly?

I thank you. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I would not like to interfere with any office. I believe that is why there is a structure in the Government. The CPSB has its own mandate. The Meru County Secretary has his own mandate provided by the law. It is prudent enough for them to act according to the law.

Proceed, Sen. (Dr.) Oburu.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I withdraw my question because it is exactly the same as the one Sen. Kibwana has asked about the reconciliation between the governor and her deputy. If she is saved, would she be able to reconcile with her deputy?

Proceed, Sen. Mbugua.

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Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I think we have not reached there. By doing that, we will have killed the dreams of young men that are MCAs today. We still have a chance to unite and work together.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I think we have not reached there. By doing that, we will have killed the dreams of young men that are MCAs today. We still have a chance to unite and work together.

Hon. Senators, that wraps up as far as this witness is concerned. Unless I gazette tomorrow as a sitting day, we will certainly overrun the runway.

Looking at the time allocated here, if we lose just a minute, I will have to gazette tomorrow to be a date for us to sit to continue to hear this matter. It is about the time factor. We only have up to midnight.

If I give you an extra 10 minutes, we will have messed it up. That is why I was giving opportunity to Senators who have not spoken a word since we started.

At this juncture, you can have a seat your Excellency, Gov. Kawira Mwangaza. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Now we are moving to a different session where we are going to have the closing statements from both sides. Now, each party will be given one hour to make their closing statement. You do not have to utilize the whole one hour. The maximum is one hour.

If you can do less than that, the better, so that we can meet the midnight deadline. Counsel for the Meru County Assembly, the Floor is yours.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Cyrus was obsessed with bringing down this little kingdom for no good reason, other than his own vanity and his failure to know when to stop. He pulls a trick. We have seen many tricks on this podium; of a meek, humble and honourable looking Governor. A victim of very many things and whose defense is, “it was not me, it was someone else”.

Cyrus’s trick involved throwing a lavish party and setting up the soldiers of this small kingdom to a drink. While they were inebriated, he massacred them, leaving only a few and took the prince of that other small country as a prisoner of war.

Even after this, the leader of the small country still offered him peace and told him, you broke the rule that it will be a conventional warfare and won by a trick. However, I will still give you another chance to return my son and will still declare peace. Cyrus refused and the son of Queen Tomyris, unable to live with the indignity of being a prisoner of war, committed suicide.

When the people of this small country heard that the Crown Prince had committed suicide, as small, weak and vulnerable as they were, they organized a violent battle in which their army, which was about a hundredth of Cyrus's army, actually won the violent battle and Cyrus himself was killed.

Due to Cyrus's inability to know when to stop, Persia ended up as a superpower and that is how Rome became a dominant country and the world and human civilization as we know it today is based on the Roman civilization. That is why I said that there would have been no Britain, no France, no America, but for the mistake of one leader not knowing when to stop.

Our greatest fear is that the history of Meru may take an irreversible, tragic path. We saw very violent slaughters of animals, threats of slaughtering people and whatnot. As I was telling you, as long as our Governor keeps relapsing to these confrontations, we do not know when things will take a turn for the worst in a manner that is irreversible. Is it fair that the people of Meru live in this state of anxiety? For how long can we subject them to the situation that has now prevailed?

Gov. Kawira Mwangaza will tell you that she knows when to stop. The record is clear. You have seen the videos from our side. You have seen the videos from her side. It is clear that she will not stop. Right now, she will tell you that she will stop because her career is on the line, but we know better; she will not.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, a story is told about a frog and a scorpion and the swollen river. The scorpion could not swim and thus the frog, who is an amphibian and, therefore, capable of crossing the swollen river, decided to assist the frog to cross the river.

The frog tells the scorpion in the story that he will sting me before we are done with crossing and we will both die and drown. The scorpion promised, no, I cannot do that. If I were to sting you while you are carrying me on your back to cross this swollen river, we will both die because it will be mutual destruction. As the Americans and the Russians called it during the Cold War, I have no incentive. There is no rational reason why I would sting you.

The poor frog bought this story just like you are being invited to buy the story – “I will pray for them. I will forgive them. We only need a month.” So, frog took scorpion on his back and started swimming across the river and right in the middle, scorpion hoisted its

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. tail and stung the frog. Of course, that poison disables the nervous system and the frog could not swim and they both started drowning. Frog asks, ‘why did you sting? You promised that you would not sting and you are also aware by you stinging, we would both be extinguished.’ Scorpion gave frog a simple answer. I stung because it is in my nature to sting.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are submitting to you, with all the humility, Kawira Mwangaza keeps relapsing to these violations of the law, Constitution and the vilification. We can call whatever the specifics we want. The reason she keeps relapsing to the same thing is because, like that scorpion in the story, it is in the nature of Kawira to sting.

So, even if you give her another chance, whether it is on account of pity or sympathy, whatever the reason, she will sting again. There are no prophets in my family, but I can tell you, if you forgive her, she will sting again and we will be back in this assembly. Therefore, the question asked by Hon. Sen. Sifuna is, for how long can we endure this embarrassment? Is it fair?

I had a Senator ask if words have consequences. Of course, words have consequences. Wars have been fought because someone said words that they should not have said. That is why there is an adage that says speech is silver, silence is golden.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, you were told kaende kaende means development and other nice things. I invite any of you, because it is an open country. Kaende kaende is neither an English, Swahili nor native word from any of our native languages. It is sheng; street slang in Nairobi City County. I told you yesterday all you need to do is pick your phone, call a young person and ask them what is the meaning of kaende kaende. I told you the meaning is I do not care na liwe liwalo.

I recall telling you, because it is in the nature of Kawira to do these types of things - when I mean it is in her nature - I mean she cannot help it. It is part of our chemistry. Unfortunately, we have human beings like those and they are our beloved mothers, brothers and sisters. We cannot get rid of them, but we cannot allow them to be governor.

The very reason Chapter Six of our Constitution and all these laws we have cited, is an acknowledgment that not all of us can be a state officer. Some of us may be very intelligent, eloquent, have very good mobilization skills, as a matter of fact, they may be loved by the people. Barabbas was so loved that the people chose him over the Son of God. However, it does not mean are the right holders of certain offices.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if by what I called in the last impeachment, that seemed to bring me into trouble with the Senate, an aberration of democracy. Article 181 exists because the drafters of our Constitution in their wisdom realized democracy can produce aberration of counter-intuitive product and governors like the one before you. I very humbly submit they are an aberration; they are not the type of product our democratic system of government designed. The makers of our Constitution knew this sort of problem can arise from time to time; this august Senate and the County Assembly were given a counter-majoritarian power to remove state officers for violations such as those before you.

I told you about Shaggy yesterday and the song “It wasn’t me.” True to my prediction, even though there are no prophets in my clan, the governor came here and the common denominator was, “It was not me, I have not done a single thing”.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Luckily, today while cross-examining her own legal man Dickson Munene Nkanata, we showed the Senate through Section 30 of the County Government Act that it is immaterial that the governor did not personally commit the acts in question because that section says the governor is irresponsible for those acts. Those are not my words. The section we read says, “The governor shall be accountable.” The words used in the statutes are “The Governor shall be accountable”. Why this defence cannot hold is you will be setting a very dangerous precedent.

In fact, you will have guillotined and killed Chapter Six and Article 181 of the Constitution. Not anyone who walks in our villages and streets of our cities needs to be very knowledgeable to know senior state officers invariably act by instructing someone else. You rarely ever find a Governor or a President directly doing something personally yet our Constitution says they are accountable to Parliament. In the case of the national Government, they are accountable to the county assembly. Those are the words of the law.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you were to uphold this defence, it would mean no one would ever be impeached because all you need to do is Act through others. Luckily, we also cited another law for you that expressively speaks to acting through others.

In short, all we are trying to tell you is that there is no valid defence to the charges against Governor Kawira Mwangaza. What she has done, which is what she has done all along is to tell you, “It was not me”. Even if she was caught on camera “It wasn’t me.” Even if she was caught in various places, “It wasn’t me” In Shaggy’s song, the man engaging in hunky punky is caught in the bathroom, on the sofa and in other places and is all recorded, but his persistent reply was “It wasn’t me.”

We have shown you that defence is not available as a matter of plain law, but it is not also available as a matter of principle.

I propose to leave it at that point and share the remaining minutes with my learned colleague, Mr. Jacob Muvengei Ngwele, who will take you to the specifics of what is the case we brought before you, the response to that case, what the admissions the Governor made and the County Assembly. When all that is done, we shall beseech you in the name of God, whether it is the Christian God or the God of the Nyambene and Mt. Kenya Hills that the Ameru worshipped before the current civilization, that the time to stop this madness in Meru has come.

If we have not proved or satisfied you, the Governor is a bishop in the Holy Book. In the event that we have not persuaded you on the evidence, and I hope we have done so, wherever the truth lies, there is an unsustainable crisis in Meru. Even if you must jettison one person to save the ship called Meru County with one million inhabitants, your act is still justifiable even in the Holy Book.

I now cede the Floor to Mr. Jacob Ngwele.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Luckily, today while cross-examining her own legal man Dickson Munene Nkanata, we showed the Senate through Section 30 of the County Government Act that it is immaterial that the governor did not personally commit the acts in question because that section says the governor is irresponsible for those acts. Those are not my words. The section we read says, “The governor shall be accountable.” The words used in the statutes are “The Governor shall be accountable”. Why this defence cannot hold is you will be setting a very dangerous precedent.

In fact, you will have guillotined and killed Chapter Six and Article 181 of the Constitution. Not anyone who walks in our villages and streets of our cities needs to be very knowledgeable to know senior state officers invariably act by instructing someone else. You rarely ever find a Governor or a President directly doing something personally yet our Constitution says they are accountable to Parliament. In the case of the national Government, they are accountable to the county assembly. Those are the words of the law.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you were to uphold this defence, it would mean no one would ever be impeached because all you need to do is Act through others. Luckily, we also cited another law for you that expressively speaks to acting through others.

In short, all we are trying to tell you is that there is no valid defence to the charges against Governor Kawira Mwangaza. What she has done, which is what she has done all along is to tell you, “It was not me”. Even if she was caught on camera “It wasn’t me.” Even if she was caught in various places, “It wasn’t me” In Shaggy’s song, the man engaging in hunky punky is caught in the bathroom, on the sofa and in other places and is all recorded, but his persistent reply was “It wasn’t me.”

We have shown you that defence is not available as a matter of plain law, but it is not also available as a matter of principle.

I propose to leave it at that point and share the remaining minutes with my learned colleague, Mr. Jacob Muvengei Ngwele, who will take you to the specifics of what is the case we brought before you, the response to that case, what the admissions the Governor made and the County Assembly. When all that is done, we shall beseech you in the name of God, whether it is the Christian God or the God of the Nyambene and Mt. Kenya Hills that the Ameru worshipped before the current civilization, that the time to stop this madness in Meru has come.

If we have not proved or satisfied you, the Governor is a bishop in the Holy Book. In the event that we have not persuaded you on the evidence, and I hope we have done so, wherever the truth lies, there is an unsustainable crisis in Meru. Even if you must jettison one person to save the ship called Meru County with one million inhabitants, your act is still justifiable even in the Holy Book.

I now cede the Floor to Mr. Jacob Ngwele.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

The Senate is sitting here pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, which provides for removal of a governor from office. The question that arises and which begs this House to look at is what is the standard, which this House should apply on the evidence, which has been submitted by the County Assembly of Meru?

My learned Senior, Elisha Ogoya when we started, informed the Senate that this House is sitting in quasi-judicial proceedings. I beg to differ. The test applicable when we are evaluating the evidence, which has been submitted here, has already been established by the Supreme Court in two cases.

The first one is the case of Wambora and the other one is Mike Mbuvi’s case whereby the court was clear that impeachments are a tool of political accountability. Impeachments are neither criminal nor civil proceedings. Therefore, the applicable standard before this House has already been established that the burden of proof, the standard of proof is slightly above that of civil cases on a balance of probability and beyond the reasonable doubt.

So, this House is not evaluating the Governor’s criminal culpability. It is subjecting the Governor to political accountability for the actions of the office which she occupies and the deeds which she has undertaken throughout that period of time.

It is our submission that the County Assembly of Meru has demonstrated and proved its case in accordance with the standards and tests which have been laid out by the Supreme Court in its decision. I will proceed to take this House through the specific violations which have been submitted.

The charge sheet before you has seven counts. Out of the seven counts, 39 consists of specific violations.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

The Senate is sitting here pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, which provides for removal of a governor from office. The question that arises and which begs this House to look at is what is the standard, which this House should apply on the evidence, which has been submitted by the County Assembly of Meru?

My learned Senior, Elisha Ogoya when we started, informed the Senate that this House is sitting in quasi-judicial proceedings. I beg to differ. The test applicable when we are evaluating the evidence, which has been submitted here, has already been established by the Supreme Court in two cases.

The first one is the case of Wambora and the other one is Mike Mbuvi’s case whereby the court was clear that impeachments are a tool of political accountability. Impeachments are neither criminal nor civil proceedings. Therefore, the applicable standard before this House has already been established that the burden of proof, the standard of proof is slightly above that of civil cases on a balance of probability and beyond the reasonable doubt.

So, this House is not evaluating the Governor’s criminal culpability. It is subjecting the Governor to political accountability for the actions of the office which she occupies and the deeds which she has undertaken throughout that period of time.

It is our submission that the County Assembly of Meru has demonstrated and proved its case in accordance with the standards and tests which have been laid out by the Supreme Court in its decision. I will proceed to take this House through the specific violations which have been submitted.

The charge sheet before you has seven counts. Out of the seven counts, 39 consists of specific violations.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. Governor, which was used to pilferage money from the county treasury in the name of imprest or prepayments.

The other clique was a group of officers working under the office of the chief of staff. Collectively, this group of people swindled an amount of Kshs78 million over a period of one financial year.

The Integrated Financial Information Systems (IFMIS) data has been produced. If you do a total computation - and this amount of money has not been disputed - none of the witness from the Governor's side has disputed the totality of this amount.

They have only submitted evidence to justify an amount or to account for an amount of Kshs2 million only. They have not brought evidence to justify the balance of the Kshs70 million.

The first clique was responsible for Kshs6.5 million. The other group, that is the chief of staff and his officers, were responsible for the balance of the amount. In that group, you will find a person and I will just single out the individual by the name Kathure Rukaria.

Individually, over a period of one year, she was paid in form of prepayments an amount of Kshs21 .8 million. We have sat here for two days; no document is in front of you justifying that payment. Nobody has disputed whether this payment was withdrawn from the country treasury. Nobody.

No documents in form of a payment vouchers and imprest warrant has been submitted to justify. There has been a deliberate attempt to distort the story and to focus the attention of the Senate to the imprests. The narrative is that this amount of money was being paid as a form of facilitative imprest for the Governor's entourage. Can a Governor's entourage collect a total of Kshs78 million?

The amount of money which has been accounted for is only Kshs2 million. Where are the documents? Where are the vouchers? When the Assembly requested for the documents through their summoning powers, they were told that the documents were with the Auditor-General.

The letter which is in the bundle of document, indicates that the documents are being used for preparation of financial statements. Everybody who has got elementary accounting knows very well that you do not generate financial statement using vouchers.

Financial statements are generated using cash books and ledgers. Even if these documents were taken to the Office of Auditor-General (OAG), where is the delivery book? No evidence has been submitted to support that expenditure.

In absence of such documents to controvert this allegation, we do humbly submit that this allegation of embezzlement of funds has been proved. What they attempted to do in their defence is that they submitted a bundle of documents, which we have raised issues about its authenticity. We do submit that these documents were an afterthought. They were generated and were ex-post creations to justify.

In their attempts to justify, they only justified only Kshs2 million when they had an onerous obligation of justifying Kshs78 million. Those documents were not signed, not examined and did not comply to elementary accounting standards applicable to any accounts department in a public institution. So, we do ask the Senate to disregard that

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. defence which have been put forward and know that, as we sit here today, Kshs70 million has not been accounted for.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, they had the obligation and responsibility of calling in the Chief Officer, Finance. They had the opportunity to call in the CECM Finance. They had at their disposal the entire county treasury to come and explain those amounts of money. They have not and for that reason, we do submit that count 1 has been proved.

I will swiftly move to the other parts of the count. Count two is on nepotism and related unethical practices. We do submit that this count has been substantiated and proved. This count involved two violations. I will just pick two violations because of the interest of time. One was fraudulent misrepresentation of the Governor’s relatives as a technical team.

When the Governor received an invitation to visit China and do a benchmarking on a cancer machine, instead of the Governor sending a technical team - top-notch oncologists or other technical persons, she decided to send a member of the same clique made up of her relatives. Two sisters and one brother. This is the inner team which was sent to China.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you look at the documents which were presented to the Ministry of Devolution, there was apparent misrepresentation by the county secretary that these are technical officers and the document is there. You have been shown the documents. We do submit that an argument has been raised here that no public funds were lost, but the county assembly states that an opportunity was lost.

Those who have done accounting or economics know there is something called opportunity cost – the cost of not doing something. That is the cost which was incurred by the County of Meru and there was that violation of misrepresentation. The letter was addressed to the Governor. The Governor cannot run away, as my colleague, Dr. Muthomi has said and say, “It wasn’t me”. The letter was addressed to her. She minuted it to the officers and officers went ahead and misrepresented those members of the clique as county technical officials.

The other violation in this count is the designation of Nephat Kinyua, who is a member of the clique. This is a clique, which had access, power and influence. The clique involved the two sisters and the brothers. It is the one that runs Meru today. In order to reward Nephat Kinyua when he was in a small job group and without a competitive process; and the Governor also admitted in cross-examination that his appointment was not sanctioned by the CPSB, he was appointed as a director, external linkages without a transparent and competitive recruitment process. We do submit that count 2 has also been substantiated and proved.

I will move quickly because of the time we have been given. It is so difficult to condense all the evidence which we have been given within the short period of time I have, but I shall try my best.

The third count is bullying, vilification and demeaning other leaders. Chapter Six of the Constitution was not made in vain. It operates with other laws. Key principles among them are the Public Officers Ethics Act and the Leadership and Integrity Act. These are the provisions of the law, which the governor violated.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

I direct the Senate to Section 9(b) of the Public Officers Ethics Act, which states that a state officer shall not bully any person. There is also a call for professionalism within the Leadership and Integrity Act. Professionalisms also means that a state officer shall treat the public and his fellow public officers with courtesy and respect.

The aspect of acting through others has also been brought forward within those laws. It makes it an offence for causing everything to be done through other persons.

My colleague Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu has mentioned that the Governor is now hiding that it was not her, but the county secretary. The county secretary has become the bogeyman.

The drafters of the law knew very well that state and public officers who hold positions of power will shift responsibility to their juniors. That is why the law says that you cannot run away from that responsibility.

One of the violations under this particular count was actions against the Deputy Governor. I will just bundle them as that.

We have put several violations against the Deputy Governor key among them is that the Governor made her deputy the bogeyman; a symbol of hatred in Meru County. By that, she orchestrated a well-organized campaign to vilify the Deputy Governor and excluded him from performance and discharge of public duties, which include attending CECM meetings and other functions.

Sufficient evidence has been adduced demonstrating how these actions were perpetrated. There is the HANSARD of the County Assembly and letters by the Deputy Governor beseeching the Deputy President of this Republic, the Chairperson of the Council of Governors (CoGs) and the Speaker of the Senate to facilitate a reconciliation between him and the Governor.

There are memos, which we have submitted demonstrating the Deputy Governor asking for simple facilitations such as repairs and fuel for his car, staff and the like.

We submit that this specific violation has been demonstrated. The Governor has turned the battle to the Deputy Governor. Instead of justifying or explaining, the Deputy Governor has become the author of these impeachment proceedings. They have created a narrative around the Deputy Governor.

Evidence has been adduced to support the vilification of the Deputy Governor in form of WhatsApp messages; where the Governor proceeded to engage in cyber bullying.

She has not disputed those screenshots, their authenticity or context. You can see the Governor posting and talking about the deputy governor mobilizing few walevis and people finding a way of defecating avocado seeds. It is there. She has admitted that.

Another post states that “he thinks I am the type of person who can be scared”. This is on a WhatsApp group, which consist members of the public, senior and junior officers of the county. The Governor is vilifying another state officer, which is in clear breach and violation of the provisions of the Leadership and Integrity Act, Chapter Six of the Constitution and the Public Officers Ethics Act.

The other violation that falls under this account was before the House in the previous impeachment proceedings. The Governor has persistently made demeaning public utterances against other elected leaders. Apart from the Deputy Governor, who was the

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. bogeyman and was at the centre of attack by the Governor. She had other leaders at a close hair. These are all the elected leaders of Meru County. The 12 of them include the Senator, Women Representative and other elected Members. This was done by falsely accusing them of cartelism. The governor has grouped these leaders into one and refers to them as a cartel.

The evidence has been adduced before this House in the form of videos. I will take you through one of the videos, which have been played here about, “Wenye wivu wajinyonge”. You can see the spouse of the Governor playing guitar and the Governor behind dancing. When the spouse talks about wenye wivu wajinyonge she dances to it, mocking the leaders and telling them that they can do nothing. This is the kind of evidence that has been produced here.

We have submitted that the issue of the Governor’s spouse has been a hot issue in Meru County. The Governor provides the spouse with the platform. The spouse is used as the attack dog. Instead of the Governor attacking these leaders directly sometimes, she uses the spouse to attack them through music and innuendos.

The other video, which was submitted was during the presidential function in Rari. The Governor singled out the 10 leaders called them names and falsely accused them of being members of a cartel who were trying to blackmail her regime. We do submit that this count three on bullying, vilification and demeaning of other leaders have been proved.

We brought a witness, who is a Member of Parliament, that is Hon. Mugambi Thindikiri, he is the Chairperson of the Meru Members of Parliament Caucus. He explained in detail the pain and suffering they have undergone, as leaders, of the actions of the Governor vilifying them. What he felt together with other Members when they were vilified during the presidential meeting. He felt insulted, demeaned, and humiliated; when they had not provoked the governor. We submit that this allegation has been substantiated. I am moving quickly to my fourth count.

The other count which was brought before this House. We believe it is something this House needs to look at deeply. It includes the violation of the law. Count four is on illegal appointments and usurpation of statutory powers. The violations are there in the charge sheet. The specific laws that have been violated. I will mention a few violations which are there.

One is the illegal appointment of the chief officers. A name has been brought and evidence has been adduced. This is on page 296 of our document on volume two. The appointment of Kenneth Riungu as Chief Officer without the approval of the County Assembly.

Hon. Senators, Section 45 of the County Governments Act provides for the appointment of chief officers and the method. The governor nominates from a list that has competitively been sourced by the County Public Service Board (CPSB). Once the nomination has been undertaken, the name is forwarded to the assembly for vetting under the provisions of the County Assembly Public Approval Act.

Nobody has disputed the appointment of this particular chief officer, including the Governor and the witnesses. Nobody has said that Kenneth Mwiki Riungu has not been

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. appointed or does not discharge the functions of chief officer. This evidence has been produced.

We submit that that evidence of the appointment has been produced in form of the letter dated 23rd August, 2023. It contains a list of appointments which the Governor made. In that list, you will see the name of Kenneth Riungu being appointed as a chief officer. Meru County Assembly has never vetted this individual and he still discharges the functions of a chief officer in Meru County. This is a violation of Section 45 of the County Governments Act.

Mr. Speaker Sir, the other appointment was that of the acting chief officers. The same letter contains the names of several chief officers who were appointed. That is Edwin Mutuma Murangiri and Kenneth Gitobu Nkatha. They were appointed as acting chief officers, without the requisite competitive recruitment and recommendations by CPSB.

The CPSB has produced evidence in form of a memorandum, warning the chief officers against making acting appointments without the authority of CPSB. In the same memorandum, CPSB says that any appointments made without the authority of the CPSB, shall be null and void.

The Governor has admitted that these individuals were directors. We found them there as directors and she appointed them as acting chief officers. In my brief history in life, I have never seen a director being appointed a Principal Secretary (PS). In case there is a vacancy in the office of a PS, one of the PSs doubles in that particular officer. This is because the appointment for that particular office is special and specific. You cannot plug in an individual from the ground and make them an acting chief officer. This is a demonstration that the governor usurped the powers of CPSB and made this illegal and irregular appointments.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, there was the issue of appointment of traffic marshals. That violation has been demonstrated. The CPSB are very clear in their letters, that they have not approved such appointment. They have demonstrated the same. However, in the bundle of documents, you can see the same traffic marshals wearing uniforms and riding motorcycles. The Governor posted on WhatsApp that these are going to be her frontline officers to make Meru the next city. Who appointed them? The Governor circumvented the powers and functions of CPSB and by herself, appointed these particular individuals.

The other violation was in regard to sending the four CEOs of the parastatals in Meru County. That is Dr. Ntoiti, the CEO of the County Revenue Board, Paul Mwaki – who testified here – the CEO of Liquor Board and Kenneth Kiamathi, the Managing Director. These as CEOs of statutory corporations. They are employees of the Board and not of the Governor. The Governor, through the county secretary, sent them on compulsory leave with pay. It only took the intervention of the court, after one year, and that is when they have resumed their duties.

The boards are the ones that recruit. They are the ones with statutory powers to suspend or exercise disciplinary control over their CEOs. It is not the Governor crossing over. I have never seen in this country the CEO of a parastatal being sent home by State House, when there is a dully constituted board. Maybe this one is new.We submit that this

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. is the second time the Governor is still being accused of usurping the powers and functions of the Board.

With respect to count four, we do submit that the count has been proved. The last two counts which I am going to move quickly is contempt of court. Evidence has been submitted here how despite the existence of court orders from the Nyeri Employment and Labor Relations Court, the Governor for one year disregarded those orders. As a result, the court has convicted the Governor.

As we sit here today, the Governor of Meru County is a convict. She has already been convicted of contempt of court. That is a violation of Article 181(1)(b) of the Constitution which provides that where there is a serious reason to believe that a county governor has committed a crime under the national law---

The Governor has already been convicted by the High Court in Meru. She is only awaiting sentence. She has not discharged the conviction. She has not appealed the conviction. That ground has already been proved. That is contempt of court.

The other one is the illegal naming of the road. That one is okay. We have said it is there and the evidence has been produced. The Governor has been shown the Facebook posting whereby she is naming a road in the name of her husband.

The last one is contempt of the county assembly. Section 22 of the County Assembly Powers and Privileges Act provides an impeachable ground for anybody who is a public officer who violates or dishonors the summons of the assembly.

The Governor was invited to appear before the committee of the county assembly. When she was invited, she wrote back a letter and said that there was no provision of the law, which requires a governor to appear before a committee of the assembly.

Article 195 of the Constitution is very clear that a county assembly or any of its committees can summon anybody to appear before the committee to provide the evidence or to give information.

Section 18 of the County Assembly Powers and Privileges Act enacts the same provision and uses the word "any person". When the Governor was invited, her defense was that the county assembly should go to the high court, file a constitutional case and seek a constitutional interpretation on whether the Governor can be summoned to appear before the assembly yet the Constitution uses the word "any person".

Section 22 says that where the assembly passes a resolution against an individual for violating that particular provision, that shall constitute a ground for removal from office. That is why you see this ground and Sen. Sifuna does it. What is contempt of a county assembly, whether it constitutes a violation that is the only violation I have ever seen in law whereby by it makes it an impeachable ground for failing to honour the summons of the county assembly.

The assembly can pass a resolution and impeach you. That is what the County Assembly of Meru has done. We submit that this count, together with the other six counts, have been substantiated; the Assembly has demonstrated the same.

Finally, my colleague,

Is the Governor individually liable for that particular violation? She has said all these things were done by

Finally, my colleague,

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. the county secretary. He has mentioned about the provisions of Section 30(3) of the County Governments Act, which will be my last.

Section 30 talks about how the governor shall be accountable for the management and use of county resources. The governor cannot run away and say, I was not the one; it was done by this officer; it was done by the county secretary. The law places the accountability in the hands of the governor.

So, the Governor of Meru County cannot run away from these allegations and say that they were done by others, that it was not her.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, with that, I rest my case.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. the county secretary. He has mentioned about the provisions of Section 30(3) of the County Governments Act, which will be my last.

Section 30 talks about how the governor shall be accountable for the management and use of county resources. The governor cannot run away and say, I was not the one; it was done by this officer; it was done by the county secretary. The law places the accountability in the hands of the governor.

So, the Governor of Meru County cannot run away from these allegations and say that they were done by others, that it was not her.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, with that, I rest my case.

The counsel for the Governor, you may now proceed to make your closing statements. You have exactly one hour, starting now.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. had given before you to the county assembly. Fortunately, this House is a House of records. Fortunately, you have fantastic rules of procedure that we can make better as we have seen. I will recommend and I hope time will permit, that we relook at the timelines for the impeachment of governors if we have to do absolute justice on filings and arguments of the case. These are reform issues because we are in continuous improvement as a society. However, putting all factors on the scale, we have done well in presenting some records before this House.

When you retire and before you vote tonight, I invite every Senator to open volume four of the County Assembly’s documents and turn specifically to page 146 and look at the conversation that is taking place there. This is the HANSARD of the County Assembly of Meru on 25th October 2023.

If you turn with me on page 146, you will see this conversation. Elias Mutuma Advocate for the Governor says: “Mine will be brief, but I will not proceed until we are given a ruling on the two issues raised by my seniors. We seek direction on how to table the evidence that we have and how we will get a ruling on the public on public participation. The Governor is pleading to be given a chance to table her evidence.”

Hon. Ayub Bundi says: ‘When your brother Omari was speaking, he mentioned a difference between Hon. Members and your team.’ He stated that he knows the division in this House and he cannot step on the other side. Anything you would like to table in this House must go to the House Business Committee (HBC). You cannot do it when you are on that side. You must be on the side where the Members are.

I was wondering, Mr. Speaker, Sir, how was Mr. Mutuma possibly supposed to get to the side where the Members are? Was he supposed to organise a mini-election in Meru County, and become elected as the Senator for the temporary purpose of participating in these proceedings? I do not know. I am a career learner and I learn every day.

It is only allowed for Hon. Members. We are being told that only hon. Members are allowed to table evidence. You are not allowed to table evidence. We are going to make a reference to the HANSARD system because everything that you talk about is being captured. You can proceed as the Speaker. We do not begrudge him. He had the power to make a ruling just as you have powers to make rulings here.

Did he use that power correctly? That is the question I pose to the conscience of the men and women bestowed with the arduous responsibility of protecting devolved governance in this country, sitting in this House as distinguished Senators.

The conversation continues with Elias Mutuma, an Advocate for the Governor making an argument-

“My understanding, therefore, is that we will not lay the evidence that we have.’ The Speaker answers him- “How will you table it Mr. Mutuma?” Mutuma is asking him, you are the presiding officer in this House, guide me on how to table. Mr. Mutuma is being challenged, ‘How will you do it? You are not an MCA’.

That is why MCAs entered through the main door and you entered through the back door. This was no longer differentiation, but apartheid. It was discrimination on the basis of the door you entered through.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Whoever entered through the main door had a chance to table evidence. Whoever entered through any other door was denied a right to table evidence. Mr. Mutuma, exercising the persistence of a lawyer that we teach in law schools continuously-

“My hope is that you will guide me on how we will lay the evidence that we have, because I am a stranger in this House.”

The Speaker answers him- “We are going to rely on the HANSARD system. As you talk, be aware that you are giving your evidence.”

He says In desperation- “Well guided.” A very well-trained lawyer, whether you agree or disagree with the judge, you say, “most obliged, well guided, may we then have a ruling before we proceed.”

Mr. Speaker, Sir, and distinguished Senators, believe me or not, it is this Assembly that has come here to ask you, why did they not table their evidence before the Assembly? We may agree or disagree with the Governor on many things. However, we owe her a moral duty to be fair to her.

The Governor has been unfairly treated by the County Assembly of Meru as demonstrated by the County Assembly’s own records and that is why we are here.

You have been told in cross-examination, there are other women out there serving as governors in Embu, Homa Bay, Nakuru and Kirinyaga. Are they also facing discrimination? Do not throw the gender card here. That is what the Governor has been told in your hearing.

Mr. Speaker, Sir and distinguished Senators, those things were said to the person you saw with your own eyes and felt with all your other senses, including the sense of hearing, being told what was going to be done to her by the Kibiri. Those things and questions. One day I will teach about the moral obligation of counsel in cross-examination, particular when a particular evidence is now available.

Will this Senate, in good conscience, completely overlook the evidence of Hon. Mpuru Aburi, in the presence of the Senator of Meru County, the Deputy Governor of Meru County and Hon. Mugambi Murwithania Rindikiri demonstrating what they did with their hands holding the Kibiri against the Governor? Shall we ignore that and say, she is simply throwing a gender card?

Shall we ignore the overwhelming evidence of the Deputy Governor chanting with the youths in Meru, saying how the Governor is a prostitute? Is that not the locus classicus of a sexist remark?

With this hon. Senate, ignore the video clip that was played regarding that purported tree planting event, at which no single seedling was seen being planted, but in which clear sexist remarks were made against the Governor of Meru County.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, and distinguished Senators, before you, is a fellow citizen, sinned in the matter you have experienced with your own senses, and presence being brought to trial before you.

Allow me now to proceed and highlight the contradictions in the case of the County Assembly. Distinguished Senators, when you retire in your private sessions, have these

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. conversations among yourselves. Ask yourself first, the Governor before you faces a charge of usurping the roles of other agencies in the county and doing the work of other functionaries in the county. The same Governor then faces other charges that require her to take responsibility for the acts and omissions of other functionaries in the county.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, how will you reconcile your sense of logic to that case? When you retire in your private Chamber, kindly reconcile this for me because I am a career learner. The Governor is accused of making payments to county employees who are four in number. One of those county employees steps here and complains that he was paid. He told you that yesterday. Then you will be confronted with evidence that he is the one who went to court to obtain an order to compel the county government to pay him. That same person complaining.

I have been struggling with whether I am a slow learner. However, I want you in good conscience to tell me whether if you sat in the shoes of this governor, how would you learn a lesson from that because she is a human being. She is not a perfect person. She can make mistakes, but she must be confronted by logical claims from which she can draw logical lessons to become a better leader. That is what we do in oversight institutions such as this.

However, if you confront this Governor with these kinds of contradictions, how does she sit with her team and tell them that this is the programme of action on how we can become better. The same Governor is accused of disobeying a court order because that payment was delayed. The act of purging was the payment must be made.

While at that, I am glad that in front of me, including you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, are hon. Members of the Senate of Kenya who have served as governors. I have a plea to them to please convey a message to other Members in your deliberations on how many cases the governor of a county, being them, was named as respondent. If for each of those cases, the governor was to be brought here and be impeached, how many governors would survive in this country? Is that even a sustainable way of oversighting counties?

The office of governor is a standard respondent, so to speak in virtually all claims made against the county government. At the end of it all, as was the case in the case of the four petitioners in Meru, a specific officer of the county government was singled out and was told that it was his duty as the county secretary to ensure that these things are done. That he should go back and comply and then go to court again and inform them that he had complied. Shall we ignore that direction of the court?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, my learned colleague, Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu has a legal philosophy called legal sophistry. According to him, this is a process where people make technical, legal arguments that technically make sense, but when you look at them substantively, they are unjust arguments. Sadly, he has advanced those arguments here today. We do not begrudge him. He is acting on his clients’ instructions.

The Senate should act on instructions of the Constitution. Shall you buy into that legal sophistry or into the Constitution?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, my sight is not very good. When my 30 minutes reach and it is shown, I beseech that my attention be drawn to it so that I manage my time better. I know I still have some time.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Who do they take Senators for? Distinguished Senators, will you buy into this? Even when confronted with evidence of a formal marriage certificate, he proceeds with his theory that his public domain hypothesis of the marriage of Nephat Kinyua outweighs the marriage certificate. I would have hoped that as people who have a duty to this Senate, the Counsel who presented Evans Mawira would have withdrawn that part of their claim, to save us time. Think about the minutes I am spending arguing this fact. We have to do it because they have put it to us. They disrespect the Senate, this is why they are saying they must preoccupy your precious time with this issue to the wire.

The star witness, Hon. Mawira Evans, introduces an alleged relationship between the first gentleman and Edwin Muragiri. He calls Edwin a nephew to the first gentleman. Somebody’s nephew ordinarily is the sister's son. What is the name of the mother of Edwin, so that we can see if he is a sibling? He says he does not know the name.

Hon. Senators, let me put it this way. This country inherited a common law tradition at the beginning of the legal system. We have shifted significantly from the common law tradition because of our transformative written Constitution. In the old common law, there was the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy. In the new order, we have the doctrine of Constitutional supremacy. Even in the traditions where Parliament enjoyed supremacy, it had no power by fiat to impose relationships upon people. Tell somebody that this is your brother from today.

You have been told to make that finding as the Senate, that Edwin Muragiri is the nephew to the first gentleman. What do you do when this man begins claiming inheritance from this family by your decision? These things have consequences, people will present this HANSARD to courts in the future to prove relationships. Shall we manage the aftermath?

These people did not respect this House. This witness insisted that county vehicles were destroyed in an Okolea event. Some Senators asked him that since vehicles in this country are identified by their registration numbers, there is no other method of identifying vehicles. He said he had another method, which is the affidavit of No.113748PC, Kevin Wafula, is a method of recognizing or attributing ownership to vehicles. That was novel.

The county assembly’s star witness elevated jokes to legendary heights. The witness tried to introduce a theory that the Governor had employed Edwin Muragiri and Nephat Kinyua, who he claimed were the Governor’s relatives. We have shown that there is no evidence they were. They were not. It then turned out that these people were employed in 2017 and 2016 respectively; that the Governor employed them in the county in advance of her election as governor. I am wondering what they take this Senate to be. Can somebody in good conscience sustain this case to the wire as the Counsel for the Assembly has done?

Dr. Gitonga Jeremiah came to this House. I will invite you to look at the affidavit of that witness, but I will not read it because of time.

From the very first paragraph of the affidavit of that witness, when his memory is still clearest, he told the advocate drafting his affidavit, that he is a director of Ivy Health Care. When he stood here and told to introduce himself, he took an oath before this Senate and from his mouth, perjured himself on oath, saying he is the Director of Ivy Health Care.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Learned Counsel, Dr. Okubasu, exercising that power in the book of Proverbs 17, confronted him in cross-examination. He asked him, if this Senate were to take the liberty and call a Form CR12 from the company’s registry, would he appear as a director of Ivy Health Care? He stuttered and in that moment, spoke about three other companies completely not mentioned in that affidavit. It turned out he was not a director of Ivy Health Care.

At paragraph eight of his affidavit, which was read to him, he says that he was surprised upon arrival in China that the delegation that the Governor had recommend to Ivy Health Care, was not a technical team. He learned that when he arrived in China, it turned out the man never went to China. He stuttered.

Hon. Mugambi Rindikiri Murwithania will be remembered by this House as the leader who was captured on video supporting the most sexually offensive remarks against a woman in the 21st Century, before the country’s Senate, asserted by another leader, Mpuru Aburi, an Hon. Member.

These are the people that we have been told have mounted a convincing case. Let us face it. I used to be taught that no one makes good deals with bad guys. Can you get credible evidence from these most incredible fellow citizens? Is it possible?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, allow me to now deal with the charges presented before this House by the County Assembly. From the onset, allow me to very humbly invite the hon. Senators to administer a caution to themselves individually, as you consider this matter. Individual Senators, please, caution yourself that the case of the County Assembly cannot be permitted to mutate from the charges that were prosecuted at the County Assembly. It cannot be allowed.

Rule 19 of the Fifth Schedule of the Standing Orders provides for the procedure of the impeachment process before the whole House, as we are doing now. It prescribes that in presenting its evidence, the Assembly shall not introduce any new evidence that was not a part of the allegations against the Governor by the County Assembly, as forwarded by the Speaker of the County to the Speaker of the Senate. This case cannot be allowed to mutate. There must be logic behind this. The logic is, there must be definitiveness on what the Governor is responding to.

Allow me to deal with Counts one and five together. These counts are found in the Assembly’s documents Volume 1. Count 1 has four specific allegations.

Allegation No.1; that the Governor has violated certain provisions of the Constitution and the law - they have specified it there, I will not read them - by engagement, connivance and/or complicity in the following:-

First, allow me to tell you that this charge is duplex. It is a defective charge. If not for anything else, you must discourage this form of drafting; it is poor drafting. The Governor has to elect whether she is going to defend herself against engaging in those acts, against conniving in those acts, or against complicity in those acts. In law, that is an impossible task.

What the County Assembly has done is to cast a wide net in the words of the fishing vocabulary, in the hope that it may catch crabs, fish and perhaps some snakes, so that you

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. say, ‘anyway, we may have grabbed a lot of snakes, but there is one fish, so vote for this fish.’ It is a poor way of dealing with a case of this nature.

A case of this nature requires military precision in the charges. Be that as it may, the Governor is accused of doing those things in the form of embezzlement of county funds through the Governor's sisters; Rose Kinya Guantai and Ms. Miriam Guantai; brother, Kenneth Guantai Murangiri; brother-in-law Neffat Kinyua and nephew to the Governor’s husband, Edwin Mutuma Murangiri, all of whom are now collectively referred to as the Governor's relatives, period.

The Governor comes to this court and says, ‘I want to give you evidence to show that I have not embezzled any funds through these people. How will I do this? I will give you vouchers to show what each of these people is being paid for.’ That is a sufficient answer to this charge. You are then told, no, he has not accounted for Kshs70 million. Hon. Senators, where is the charge for failure to account for Kshs70 million that the Governor is supposed to respond to in that form?

Secondly, where is the charge of failure to account for Kshs78 million? If that charge came as such, then the Governor would have been under an obligation to secure her finance people to give her material in respect of all the Kshs78 million and then, we can interrogate the material one by one. Is this credible? Is this not credible, and so forth? Once we have supplied that, we must show a causal connection between that money and the person of the Governor.

The Governor was taken through a fairly humiliating exercise. She was reduced to a clerical officer. You, as Senators and State officers get imprests. You know the clerical process of dealing with one single imprest at a time.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you are personally to be held responsible for the imprest process in this House, would you possibly transact the business of this House? That is a matter this House must reflect on in your private moment before you take a vote.

Even the Clerk, who is the administrative head of this House, if he was told to personally explain each of the individual signatures in every signature of 100 vouchers, would that be possible?

Allow me to tell you why this charge is premature. An audit process presents a different environment. In an audit process, the auditor comes, receives documents; reviews them, asks questions; people go back to the drawing board, review their material and come back.

The whole process takes time until we have a report. Now, here is where you file documents, and you are bound by those documents; there is no feedback. So, in this case, we have no audit report.

The County Assembly should have been patient for the auditor to audit these accounts and raise specific audit queries. If they failed to get answers to those audit queries, then they should have mounted a case based on the specific audit queries that were not answered.

What has happened by the Counsel for the County Assembly before you is a sad commentary on how not to prosecute an Impeachment Motion.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. say, ‘anyway, we may have grabbed a lot of snakes, but there is one fish, so vote for this fish.’ It is a poor way of dealing with a case of this nature.

A case of this nature requires military precision in the charges. Be that as it may, the Governor is accused of doing those things in the form of embezzlement of county funds through the Governor's sisters; Rose Kinya Guantai and Ms. Miriam Guantai; brother, Kenneth Guantai Murangiri; brother-in-law Neffat Kinyua and nephew to the Governor’s husband, Edwin Mutuma Murangiri, all of whom are now collectively referred to as the Governor's relatives, period.

The Governor comes to this court and says, ‘I want to give you evidence to show that I have not embezzled any funds through these people. How will I do this? I will give you vouchers to show what each of these people is being paid for.’ That is a sufficient answer to this charge. You are then told, no, he has not accounted for Kshs70 million. Hon. Senators, where is the charge for failure to account for Kshs70 million that the Governor is supposed to respond to in that form?

Secondly, where is the charge of failure to account for Kshs78 million? If that charge came as such, then the Governor would have been under an obligation to secure her finance people to give her material in respect of all the Kshs78 million and then, we can interrogate the material one by one. Is this credible? Is this not credible, and so forth? Once we have supplied that, we must show a causal connection between that money and the person of the Governor.

The Governor was taken through a fairly humiliating exercise. She was reduced to a clerical officer. You, as Senators and State officers get imprests. You know the clerical process of dealing with one single imprest at a time.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you are personally to be held responsible for the imprest process in this House, would you possibly transact the business of this House? That is a matter this House must reflect on in your private moment before you take a vote.

Even the Clerk, who is the administrative head of this House, if he was told to personally explain each of the individual signatures in every signature of 100 vouchers, would that be possible?

Allow me to tell you why this charge is premature. An audit process presents a different environment. In an audit process, the auditor comes, receives documents; reviews them, asks questions; people go back to the drawing board, review their material and come back.

The whole process takes time until we have a report. Now, here is where you file documents, and you are bound by those documents; there is no feedback. So, in this case, we have no audit report.

The County Assembly should have been patient for the auditor to audit these accounts and raise specific audit queries. If they failed to get answers to those audit queries, then they should have mounted a case based on the specific audit queries that were not answered.

What has happened by the Counsel for the County Assembly before you is a sad commentary on how not to prosecute an Impeachment Motion.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Elisha Ongoya: That is okay, thank you. The Governor is accused of withdrawing county funds under the guise of payment for various supplies by the Governor's relatives, yet, they, the Governor's relatives, are ineligible to tender for or supply any goods or services to the county.

Counsel for the Assembly, in cross-examining the Governor, completely misled this House. I was saddened because Counsel has a duty of candour despite our sectarian interests. When you retire, Hon. Senators, look at Volume 2 of the County Assembly documents. When you look at Volume 2 of the County Assembly’s documents, you will discover that from Page 1 to Page 29 is a letter by Thuranira Salesyo Mutuma to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and some attachments. That is crucial.

Among those attachments is a table prepared by the said Salesyo, running from Page 4 to Page 14. Page four to Page 14 is not an Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) extract. It is a table prepared in Microsoft Word format by Salesyo. That is important because that question was posed as if this is an IFMIS extract. It is in this table that at Page 6 in row no. 4, you will find an entry called ‘hospital supplies.’ This is Salesyo writing those words. It is not IFMIS in which this is entered. It is Salesyo; a person who was not brought here. We were wondering whether he is a real human being, or he could just be taking care of his goat somewhere.

At Page 11, in row three, you will find hospital supplies; another entered record by Salesyo, not from the IFMIS. The Governor's case before you is that if you proceed to Page 17 to 29, where the IFMIS extract is, and you look at the corresponding voucher numbers to these things Salesyo has written, you will find in the IFMIS extract, these are hospitality supplies. That is the Governor's case before you.

So, the impression created by my colleague, Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu, that this entry ‘hospital supplies’ is an entry made by the county staff in IFMIS is a pure lie; sadly, from Counsel. When you continue looking at those charges, I am more interested in Count 1, because the other counts are the kind of counts that I can say fall on their own weight. This one here, somebody tried to point at invoices in a manner that was rather frustrating for anyone who understands this process.

In fact, when I sat where I was sitting preparing my submissions -because I was not in this House- I presumed that Counsel for the Assembly did not understand the imprest system of Government. Fortunately, for us, this Senate works on imprest systems.

So, the charge here is making various supplies, that is why we supply only vouchers that show you what these payments are for. They are not for supplies; they are for particular recurrent expenses. That is all. So, we are not accounting for Kshs78 million. We are just responding to this allegation.

Thirdly, we are accused of paying full salary and benefits. In fact, those vouchers and those Integrated Financial Management and Information System (IFMIS) entries are only relevant in respect to allegations (a) and (b). When it comes to (c), I have already mentioned to you that these payments were made pursuant to a court order. The less I say about that, the better.

Count (d) says ‘diversion or misuse of county resources including funds or motor vehicles to run the Governor’s private entity.’ You ask yourself which motor vehicle and

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. you are told, ‘no, go to the affidavit of a police constable and you will get it there;’ a very strange way of identifying a motor vehicle. I am open to learning, but I was not willing to learn that one.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I understand that I have 10 minutes?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. It is not there. If you look carefully at those pictures you see there, they are speaking about diplomatic duties. Surely, I was a little embarrassed as the Senate was engaged in that.

Bullying, vilification and demeaning other leaders. We have shown what they have done to the Governor. The less I say about it, the better. They actually dared and threw the first stone when they had sinned more.

On illegal appointments, I will talk about this because this is Statutory and I have an obligation to guide this Senate on the law.

I will refer this Senate to Section 64 of the County Governments Act. It says- “Acting appointments shall be made only by the lawful appointing authority and for a specified period.’

It then says, nothing in this Section, nothing that previous section has said shall prevent a Public Officer like the Governor here or the County Secretary, those are public officers, from deploying another officer to perform the duties vested in another office during a temporary absence or a vacancy in that office.

If you listen to the case of the County Assembly, they will keep quiet on Section 64 (4), as if it does not exist. However, let us move further Senators.

Section 64(5) says- “If it comes to the attention of the County Public Service Board (CPSB), that a public officer has purportedly made an acting appointment, delegation or deployment as the case may be contrary to the provision of this section, the CPSB shall take necessary corrective action.”

This is something that the law prescribes its own procedures for remedying. Why would you use a sledgehammer of an impeachment when the law prescribes a lesser restrictive measure that can solve the problem? That is what the County Assembly has engaged in.

Naming a public road after the husband: Show us the road. ‘Oh! Let us go to Facebook. You will find it.’ Surely, the Senate has been engaged in that argument? I thought they would drop it in their final argument. Counsel stood here and insisted they have produced compelling evidence in a Facebook post. That is elevating jokes to new heights.

On the contempt of the Assembly, the task is to explain where that offence is found in statutes. The witness stuttered. The Governor has contextualised all her responses to the County Assembly. May I just inform this Senate that you have summoned Governors here, who have said ‘let us go to court and interpret the scope of your powers, as Senate, to invite us and interrogate us.’ You have engaged them in court. That is the development of our law. That is not contempt of the Assembly. The Governor ought to be praised.

Is this Governor a peacemaker? You saw her with MCAs launching projects in their wards, giving them the opportunity to shine by being the ones who read those projects. You are politicians. You know what it means in terms of dignifying and improving the stature of those MCAs.

I say, true to her word, this Governor is a foremost peacemaker. It matters not whether she shall be brought here 100 times. You cannot victimise her because those who torment her are tireless in their torments against her.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

I beseech you, Senators, to vote against each of these charges overwhelmingly in the interest of your individual and collective conscience.

I rest the Governor’s case.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

I beseech you, Senators, to vote against each of these charges overwhelmingly in the interest of your individual and collective conscience.

I rest the Governor’s case.

Sen. Okiya Omtatah, kindly take your seat. Take your seat, Sen. Mumma.

Hon. Senators, ladies and gentlemen, following the conclusion of the closing remarks by the Counsel for the County Assembly and that of the Governor, Rule 27 of the Rules of Procedure, while considering the proposed removal of the Governor in Plenary, provide as follows-

“That the Senate shall proceed into a camera session to deliberate on the issues raised.’

I, now, therefore, direct that all members of public, including the media to withdraw from the Galleries and any form of broadcast from the Chamber to cease forth with.

Sen. Abdul Haji.

Order, Hon. Senators. Kindly, take your seats.

Next Order!

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I beg to give Notice of the following Motion-

THAT WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution and Section 33 of the County Governments Act, on Wednesday, 25th October, 2023, the Meru County Assembly approved a Motion to remove from office, by impeachment, Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County;

WHEREAS, by a letter Ref. M/CARES/VOL.IV/43, dated 26th October, 2023, and received in the Office of the Speaker of the Senate on Friday, 27th October, 2023, the Speaker of the Meru County Assembly informed the Speaker of the Senate of the approval of the Motion by the County Assembly and further forwarded to the Speaker of the Senate, documents in evidence of the proceedings of the Assembly;

FURTHER WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Order No. 80 of the Senate, the Senate heard the County Assembly on the grounds for removal from office by impeachment of Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County;

Order, hon. Senators. Kindly, take your seats. May the Senate Majority Leader be heard in silence.

AND FURTHER, WHEREAS pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Order No.80, the Senate also heard the Honourable Kawira Mwangaza on the grounds for her proposed removal from office by impeachment as the Governor of Meru County;

NOW THEREFORE, pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Order 80, the Senate resolves to remove from office by impeachment, the Honourable Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County, on the following charges -

Charge 1: Misappropriation and Misuse of County Resources Charge 2: Nepotism and related unethical practices Charge 3: Bullying, Vilification and Demeaning other Leaders Charge 4: Illegal Appointments and Usurpation of Statutory Powers

Charge 5: Contempt of Court Charge 6: Illegally naming a public road after her Husband Charge 7: Contempt of the Assembly. I beg to give notice.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Senate Majority Leader, proceed.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, listening to the conversation has not been an easy duty. We have listened to accusations, counter accusations, further accusation and so on. The enormous duty before this august House this evening is to make a very serious determination.

Hon. Members, the 1.5 million citizens of Meru County, occupying a space of 7,000 square kilometers of this Republic of Kenya, have their fate in your hands. They are looking up to you, the 47 delegations of this House, to guide their County towards prosperity. Lead them in a way that they can enjoy the fruits of devolution, like the rest of the citizens of the Republic. Perhaps, arguably, devolution is one of the best gifts that Kenyans have bequeathed unto themselves since Independence.

Having sat here the last two days and listened to everything that was said and seen the videos that were played, there is no doubt that there is trouble in Meru County. There are difficulties. That County needs the assistance of this House. How you chose to assist the people of Meru County, my good friends and colleagues, is in your hands. It is you to make a wise decision.

When we went through the Motion of an impeachment hearing trying by Plenary yesterday morning, we were reminded to, in the next 48 hours, convert yourself from being just an ordinary Senator and be a neutral arbiter. Be a sober judge and deliver wise ruling and judgement that will leave the people of Meru County happy.

I do not envy you. In fact, after the conclusion of the trial presented so ably by both lead counsels for the Assembly and the Governor, people that I know so well and have had an opportunity to work with both in different forums--- Actually, I had to seek solace in the Bible again, something that I do when I find myself at crossroads.

I have had to read the story found in 1st Kings 3:16-28. Two women, who I intentionally avoid to characterise them as the Bible does because of certain connotations that have been issued in the process of moving this Motion. The two women had a disagreement, both claiming that a dead child belongs to the other, while the live child belongs to them. When they appeared before King Solomon, the wise judge made a decision that many of us agree up to date was incredibly wise. He made the right decision in awarding the correct baby to the correct mother.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, that is the duty that all the 47 delegations have today; to decide the mother that Meru County will be given to. This is because there is a part of Meru County that is dead and another that is alive. The duty that is before you, colleague Senators, is to determine who has killed their baby and which mother should be left with which baby.

Colleagues, I do not intend to be long on this process because you all understand the constraints of time that we have and the very difficult decisions that we have to make tonight. You also know that by the stroke of midnight, we need to have made certain conclusions or at least converted into the exercise of voting. Otherwise, we will be forced to adjourn and wait until you, Mr. Speaker, gazette another siting.

Since it is not my intention to get us to that phase, I want to humbly request my colleagues to take time and think about the citizens of Meru County as you make your final determination on how this matter should continue. Like we have listened, we have been

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. properly advised that there are no easy decisions; whether to impeach or not to impeach, each leaves us with a very difficult situation.

In fact, in the course of consultations, many Senators have walked up to me and suggested that, Majority Leader, why do we not, as a House, invoke Article 192 of the Constitution and just ask the people of Meru that they have a fresh start; that you send all these people packing and have the county government dissolved. Perhaps after that realization, then the people of Meru can enjoy the fruits of devolution. It is not an easy decision; it is not an easy task that is ahead of us.

To save or not to save is not just about whether you have been convinced or not convinced because every decision that you make when you eventually press the button to vote, either ‘yes’, ‘no,’ or even I am afraid even ‘abstain’ has consequences today, unlike in other occasions.

Colleague Senators, this is the moment. I know that each of you pensively sat down, listened and has reached a decision. However, I am willing to be convinced and I guess that is the exercise that you are about to make in the next one hour. Listen to whatever points you have picked out from the trial that has gone on here and hope that on any of the seven charges that have been presented, it would be good to hear from you.

Do you agree that all charges have either not been substantiated, or some of them have been? The eventual point that I make is that eventually, Meru will still need us, even after this vote, dear Senators. When we conclude on this exercise and the vote tonight, it is my humble submission, that we will still need to retreat and think through options that are available for that particular county.

I am particularly troubled because, to be sincere, I never knew of all those happenings until I saw the videos today. We must speak and condemn some of the things that we have seen in that particular video.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am a father of two girls and I would wish to leave a safe and a better haven for my daughters, eventually, when I am out of leadership. Some of the things that we have seen either leaders say or do, I am afraid, that is not the kind of world that we want for our sisters, mothers, daughters or wives.

I hope that because these videos have been brought to the fore, it should not just end here in the Senate. I strongly believe that it is within the mandate of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) because these are ethics issues. When leaders say certain things about each other, EACC needs to take the cue and begin to question us so that we behave better and move from this kind of corruption of our moral fibre of our society.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those many remarks, I beg to move and request the Senate Leader of Minority, Sen. Madzayo to second this Motion.

I thank you.

Asante Bw. Spika. Kwanza ninawashukuru Maseneta kwa utulivu wao katika hizi siku mbili ambazo wameweza kusikiliza Mjadala huu.

I thank you.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Mjadala huu ambao uko mbele ya Senate ni Mjadala ambao tunatakikana tuusikilize halafu tufanye uamuzi. Ikiwa kuna ushahidi wa kutosha kufurusha kutoka kwa ofisi ama ikiwa hakuna, tuweze kumpatia nafasi ingine aweze kuendelea.

Bw. Spika, kama kuna wakati wowote ambao Seneti inatakikana kujitambua na kuweza kuonekana iko kazini na inafanya kazi, ni wakati huu ambao inahusikana na serikali zetu za mashinani. Wakati huu ni wa kujitambua ya kwamba mtu ambaye amefanya makosa anaweza kuchukuliwa hatua ama ambaye amefanya makosa isiyo ya kiwango cha juu, anaweza kupewa nafasi kuendelea.

Cha muhimu katika mjadala huu wetu ambao umeletwa katika Kipengele cha 181 cha Katiba na vile vile, katika Kipengele cha 33 katika County Governments Act. Vile vile, kulinganishana na Kanuni zetu za Kudumu za Bunge la Seneti, Kipengele cha 80. Kibarua kilichokuwa hapa jana na leo ni kikubwa sana. Tumeweza kukaa katika hili Bunge letu la Seneti kuanzia mapema na tumefika Saa Sita usiku. Hivi leo, tumeanza asubuhi na mpaka sasa bado tuko hapa. Hili ni jambo ambalo nawapatia kongole Maseneta wote walioko hapa kwa kazi yao nzuri waliyoweza kuifanya kusikiza mjadala huu.

Wakenya wote hivi sasa macho yako katika Seneti. Na wanaangalia. Wameweza kujionea katika wale mawakili wazuri na majabali wa sheria kwa upande wa Gavana Mwangaza na wa County Assembly ya Meru. Tumeweza kuwasikiza na tunahakika kwamba Maseneta wataamua mashtaka haya kwa njia inayotakikana kisheria na kulinganishana na Kanuni zetu za Bunge.

Bw. Spika, cha muhimu ni kwamba sisi sote ni wazazi. Pengine ningejiunga pamoja na ndugu yangu hapa, Sen. Cheruiyot, aliyesema yeye pia yuko na watoto. Pia mimi niko na watoto wawili wa kike. Cha kwanza sikuweza kufahamu kabisa kwamba kuna picha ambazo zinaweza kuonyeshwa na ukajitafakari wewe mwenyewe. Kama ni mke wako, mama yako, ndugu wako wa kike au mtoto wako wa kike.

(Applause) Hayo yakijiri, kuna aina mbali mbali ambazo tunaweza kuangalia na kuona kama kulikuwa na kosa au la. Njia muhimu ya sisi kufuata ni kuangalia Kanuni zetu za Bunge na Katiba inasema nini. Ndugu zangu Maseneta mlio hapa, mko na wajibu mkubwa sana.

Ikifika wakati kama huu, hakuna cha hawa wako party hii hawa hii. Tunaangalia ukweli umesimama wapi na Bunge la Seneti linasimama na ukweli.

(Applause) Naambia Wakenya wasiwe na wasiwasi. Tumesikiza na kila mtu atatoa wajibu wake. Kila mtu ataamua kutoka Kosa la Kwanza mpaka la Saba kama wamekubaliana ama wamekataa. Ukweli utazidika wazi na uamuzi utafanyika hivi leo hapa hapa ndani ya Bunge la Seneti.

Langu ni kuwatakia kila la heri katika uamuzi wenu. Nina imani Wakenya wote kuanzia leo watakuwa na imani na Seneti.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Thank you, Hon. Senators. I will now proceed to propose the question.

Hon. Senators, we may now proceed to debate. What is your point of order, Sen. Cherarkey?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, pursuant to Standing Order No.111, I propose that we move the limitation of debate and allow each and every Senator to speak for three minutes. If you can push that one up to around 11.25 p.m., then between 11:25, we give the Governor the chance to reply. We can move to vote at around 11:.0 p.m., so that we do not run a fail of the gazette noticed that we issued and we be able to finish today, so that we do not need to gazette another day.

I propose and request Sen. Wambua to second.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, why am I getting directions on what to do from all over? I am a ranking Member of this House.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I second the Motion by Sen. Cherarkey.

Hon. Senators, I do not need to subject that Motion to debate. I will proceed to put the question.

Each Senator will have three minutes to contribute. Proceed, Sen. Wambua.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

In the words of one of the lawyers, there is a stint of madness in Meru. The parties before the Senate to process this impeachment Motion have come to us seeking justice and that is what they must expect; justice to the parties and justice to the people of Meru.

This Senate must decline the invitation by any party to take sides and move in the direction for whatever reason. This Senate was available to the parties, they had an opportunity to approach the Senate Standing Committee on Devolution to settle their issues. They passed those opportunities. Both parties have treated this House, its members and millions of Kenyans that we represent to a charade of accusations and counter- accusations, all aimed at self-preservation and serving certain political interests.

I will give two examples. The County Assembly of Meru has come to this House with relatives of the Governor being used to embezzle county funds. When that matter was put to test, the evidence on record by the County Assembly is that, one, it is in the public domain that these are relatives of the Governor.

Secondly, they said that we have seen them take photos and from those photos, there is a display of public affection. How are we, in Kitui, supposed to make a decision on the relationship between the Governor and her sisters on account of a photo that I do not even know where it has come from?

The Assembly failed a basic test to just draw a family tree and just show us the relationships.

The Governor herself---

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

In the words of one of the lawyers, there is a stint of madness in Meru. The parties before the Senate to process this impeachment Motion have come to us seeking justice and that is what they must expect; justice to the parties and justice to the people of Meru.

This Senate must decline the invitation by any party to take sides and move in the direction for whatever reason. This Senate was available to the parties, they had an opportunity to approach the Senate Standing Committee on Devolution to settle their issues. They passed those opportunities. Both parties have treated this House, its members and millions of Kenyans that we represent to a charade of accusations and counter- accusations, all aimed at self-preservation and serving certain political interests.

I will give two examples. The County Assembly of Meru has come to this House with relatives of the Governor being used to embezzle county funds. When that matter was put to test, the evidence on record by the County Assembly is that, one, it is in the public domain that these are relatives of the Governor.

Secondly, they said that we have seen them take photos and from those photos, there is a display of public affection. How are we, in Kitui, supposed to make a decision on the relationship between the Governor and her sisters on account of a photo that I do not even know where it has come from?

The Assembly failed a basic test to just draw a family tree and just show us the relationships.

The Governor herself---

Your time is up. Proceed, Sen. Boni.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir.

Order, Senators! `Sen. Boni, you have the Floor.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Finally, I want to appeal to the lawyers of the Republic of Kenya. When you are a lawyer, it does not mean you are everything. I have listened to the presentation of Dr. Thiankolu, my own friend, about the evidence of IFMIS.

I am shocked, completely. As the longest-serving Chairman of Public Accounts in the Republic of Kenya, I can confirm that I know IFMIS.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you indulge me, no Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) report, comes out with one transaction; imprest, imprest, imprest, up to the end. No.

IFMIS report comes out with what was spent on imprest and what was spent on other expenses. Not everything that comes out on IFMIS turns out to be genuine. There is something at the end of IFMIS, where the IFMIS report rejects.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if we go by that report without subjecting this to an audit report- --

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Finally, I want to appeal to the lawyers of the Republic of Kenya. When you are a lawyer, it does not mean you are everything. I have listened to the presentation of Dr. Thiankolu, my own friend, about the evidence of IFMIS.

I am shocked, completely. As the longest-serving Chairman of Public Accounts in the Republic of Kenya, I can confirm that I know IFMIS.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you indulge me, no Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) report, comes out with one transaction; imprest, imprest, imprest, up to the end. No.

IFMIS report comes out with what was spent on imprest and what was spent on other expenses. Not everything that comes out on IFMIS turns out to be genuine. There is something at the end of IFMIS, where the IFMIS report rejects.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if we go by that report without subjecting this to an audit report- --

Your time is up, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, you are off record.

Order, Members! Order, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, kindly take your seat.

Order, hon. Senators. Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale and Sen. Munyi Mundigi, you will be watching this session from your Lounge, if you proceed that way.

Sen. Kavindu Muthama, proceed.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

There are no weighty issues that cannot be solved at Meru. The only issue that was very heavy for me is the abusive words that those men used on the Governor.

(Applause) I cried and did not know what to do. I wanted to walk out and go because I could not bear watching the abusive words that were being used on the Governor. We are women and educated, just like the men.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

There are no weighty issues that cannot be solved at Meru. The only issue that was very heavy for me is the abusive words that those men used on the Governor.

(Applause) I cried and did not know what to do. I wanted to walk out and go because I could not bear watching the abusive words that were being used on the Governor. We are women and educated, just like the men.

Who is that who set an alarm, to wake up to go where?

Can you hold that time for Sen. Kavindu Muthama?

Yes, please, hold the time for me.

Hon. Senators, put your phones on silent mode.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are women. We have daughters and we need to be given space in political arenas, that we may also portray our potential like any other person. We are leaders and we can lead, but we do not need this kind of bullying.

If we are given space, we can work. The people of Machakos today, because of what I do, ask me, “was this potential within you all those years?” I am sure from the way I have seen the MCAs working with the Governor, if they are given ample time and no incitement from anywhere, they can work and deliver.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am very disappointed and I do not see anything that can make anyone go.

I thank you.

Proceed, Sen. Ali Roba.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. of conscience and decision for the Senators in this House. However, what is in question is a weighty matter, regardless of which direction we are going to take as Senators. I do not see a solution ahead as a governor who has served for 10 years; whether the Governor is impeached or the impeachment is not approved by this House.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I see sadness moving forward regardless of whichever way we are going to vote. That has been consciously the most disturbing position for me, as a leader who has served as a governor for 10 years. I have asked, if we go this way, what will be the result, if we go the other way, what will be the result? I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel. Let---

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. of conscience and decision for the Senators in this House. However, what is in question is a weighty matter, regardless of which direction we are going to take as Senators. I do not see a solution ahead as a governor who has served for 10 years; whether the Governor is impeached or the impeachment is not approved by this House.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I see sadness moving forward regardless of whichever way we are going to vote. That has been consciously the most disturbing position for me, as a leader who has served as a governor for 10 years. I have asked, if we go this way, what will be the result, if we go the other way, what will be the result? I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel. Let---

Sen. Olekina.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

I second the sentiments of the Senate Majority Leader. It is about time. If these leaders in Meru County cannot get their act together, we might as well call a commission of enquiry to suspend that county. It is ridiculous and we cannot allow this Senate to be reduced to that. We should know better.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

I second the sentiments of the Senate Majority Leader. It is about time. If these leaders in Meru County cannot get their act together, we might as well call a commission of enquiry to suspend that county. It is ridiculous and we cannot allow this Senate to be reduced to that. We should know better.

Proceed, Sen. Nyamu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I have listened very carefully to the submissions from both sides since the beginning of this matter. The million-dollar question for this House and my colleagues is, does this matter before us meet the threshold for impeachment?

I want to quote the guidelines given by the Supreme Court on the threshold of conduct of what the Counsel for the County Assembly alluded to as gross misconduct. Is the conduct of the Governor of Meru County grave? Is it disgusting, heinous or audacious and all that appertains to gross misconduct? The answer is “no”.

We must not, as a House, drown in the murky waters that is Meru County politics. We must be very careful. The Members of County Assembly (MCA) s of Meru have failed to demonstrate that they can be independent and make decisions that are not influenced from outside. We must not join them. Tonight, the matter before us should not have gotten here. I do not see how this matter got here. This is pure politics that should be handled at the ground in Meru County.

I am very saddened and disappointed. Let it be known by those I am disappointing tonight that, as Sen. Nyamu, I am not going to be part of ending a young career of a woman Governor of Meru County, simply because she did not take a tea invitation from so-and-so or she does not get along with whomever. We are experiencing that in Nairobi City County---

Your time is up, Sen. Nyamu. Proceed, Sen. M. Kajwang.’

Order, Senators! Can Sen. M. Kajwang’ be heard in silence. Proceed.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Today, we are damned if we do, or if we do not. Let me make it clear. The misogyny that has been demonstrated in some of the videos, the chauvinism and the incitement to tribal hatred, has no place in a modern Kenya.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, those are things we should not be massaging. Those are criminal actions. Gender based violence is such a grave criminal action.

(Applause) That if I had an option to ask the Governor a question, I would have asked whether she reported those matters to the police. Impunity breeds in silence.

From the submissions, it appears as if everybody in Meru County is mad. We are in a season of madness in Meru. The only sane person in Meru today is the governor and the spouse. This is what has come out of the submissions. Could that be true; that all the great men and women of Meru, including the Deputy Speaker of this House, are in a season of madness and the only lucid person can be the governor? This presupposes and indicates there is a big problem that an impeachment cannot solve.

We have a patient with two damaged kidneys. If we take out one kidney, the patient will not survive. You take out the governor and leave the assembly, you have a problem. If you reinstate the kidney, which is the governor, you still have a problem. Article 192 of the Constitution states that where a county governor has irretrievably broken down, that county should be suspended and sent to a fresh election. Even though we do not have the original jurisdiction on this, I want to encourage the citizens of Meru to call for a suspension of the county government; to send Gov. Kawira Mwangaza and the MCAs back to the people. We have been told stories about who is popular and who is not. Finally, let us not forget that in 2010, Nancy Baraza, in her role as the Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya, on spurious allegations, set a precedent that has been part of our jurisprudence. If we were to go with that threshold, then Hon. Kawira Mwangaza should go home.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Today, we are damned if we do, or if we do not. Let me make it clear. The misogyny that has been demonstrated in some of the videos, the chauvinism and the incitement to tribal hatred, has no place in a modern Kenya.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, those are things we should not be massaging. Those are criminal actions. Gender based violence is such a grave criminal action.

(Applause) That if I had an option to ask the Governor a question, I would have asked whether she reported those matters to the police. Impunity breeds in silence.

From the submissions, it appears as if everybody in Meru County is mad. We are in a season of madness in Meru. The only sane person in Meru today is the governor and the spouse. This is what has come out of the submissions. Could that be true; that all the great men and women of Meru, including the Deputy Speaker of this House, are in a season of madness and the only lucid person can be the governor? This presupposes and indicates there is a big problem that an impeachment cannot solve.

We have a patient with two damaged kidneys. If we take out one kidney, the patient will not survive. You take out the governor and leave the assembly, you have a problem. If you reinstate the kidney, which is the governor, you still have a problem. Article 192 of the Constitution states that where a county governor has irretrievably broken down, that county should be suspended and sent to a fresh election. Even though we do not have the original jurisdiction on this, I want to encourage the citizens of Meru to call for a suspension of the county government; to send Gov. Kawira Mwangaza and the MCAs back to the people. We have been told stories about who is popular and who is not. Finally, let us not forget that in 2010, Nancy Baraza, in her role as the Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya, on spurious allegations, set a precedent that has been part of our jurisprudence. If we were to go with that threshold, then Hon. Kawira Mwangaza should go home.

Sen. Wafula, proceed.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. Tumejadili mambo ya wahubiri na lazima wawe wa ukweli. Viongozi pia wawe wa ukweli. Fisi aliambia mawe, ‘hata tukinyamaza vipi, mmesikia’ na lazima tupige kura turekebishe mambo ya Meru.

Asante, Bw. Spika.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. Tumejadili mambo ya wahubiri na lazima wawe wa ukweli. Viongozi pia wawe wa ukweli. Fisi aliambia mawe, ‘hata tukinyamaza vipi, mmesikia’ na lazima tupige kura turekebishe mambo ya Meru.

Asante, Bw. Spika.

Sen. Omogeni, proceed.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, if there is an image that has stuck with me ever since this impeachment trial started, it is the image I saw of some acts against the governor of Meru. I can be rough in politics and make mistakes, but I have never descended to the level I saw in the videos that were displayed before this House.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, however much you hate a human being, if you are a Christian or you believe in the Almighty God, there are some utterances you cannot make against another human being, when you are a leader. Despite the wrong doings we have seen against the Governor of Meru County, we must ask ourselves; when history is written and the 47 of us sat here, how did our conscience respond to the videos that were played before us?

How will the people of Kenya judge us? It is not just the Governor who is on trial, it is the Senate of the Republic of Kenya that is on trial tonight.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I state that at 11.45 p.m., without fear of any contradiction, I owe my vote to the great women of Kenya. It is the one vote of the Nyamira County Delegation that I have.

I owe my vote to the women of Nyamira County, who have faith in me. I owe my vote to the great woman who raised me, Mama Nyamokami. Tonight, I give confidence to the woman who will receive me when I go home, my wife, Jackline, that I have respect for the women of this Republic.

When I cast my vote, it is to give assurance to my two lovely daughters, Nyamokami and Aliero, that we must treat the women of Kenya with honour and respect. That is the vote that I carry tonight.

I rest my case.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Throughout this impeachment Motion, I took my time to listen to both sides without trying to give my advice to my sister. This is against what was expected by many Kenyans and many people in Meru County.

The Counsel for County Assembly, Dr. Thiankolu, has said that quite a number of charges were repetitions of the same charges that were in the first impeachment. I do not know when this was just an appeal of what this House had already decided on. They could be allowed by law, but I do not think they should have then wasted the time of this House.

This evening, I submit that there could be administrative omissions and commissions. However, do they meet the threshold of impeachment? As far as I am concerned, these are non-impeachable offences.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, what we have seen throughout these two days is hounding of a woman out of office through emotional abuse, intimidation, slander and threats on her life. We have also seen tribal and ethnic profiling. These are issues that I think the National Cohesion and Integration Commission

(NCIC)

should pick up.

I advise the Governor of Meru County that whatever happens to you this evening, there are cases here that you should take to court. This is very scary to aspiring women of this country. I kept asking myself; is this what is awaiting the women governors in this county, those who will try to get into the political positions that are the domain of men in this country?

The County has continued to pursue what Dr. Thiankolu mentioned the other time, that the election brought undesired consequences. They must live with their choice. As far as I am concerned, the Meru elected Gov. Kawira Mwangaza and the will of the people is supreme. They must live with their choice for the next five years.

Thank you.

Sen. Sifuna, you may have the Floor.

Sen. Sifuna, you have the Floor.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. is one telling thing that came from the submissions of counsel, my good friend, Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu that, in fact, the motivation of the MCAs does not matter.

I want to try and persuade this House that motivation is everything. The reason why human beings do things is absolutely critical to the doing of those things. This is because motivation sets a goal for you and then you look for a means to get to that particular goal.

We have seen the evidence that has been led here, demonstrate clearly that a decision was made that Hon. Kawira Mwangaza had to go as the Governor of Meru County and then steps and plans were put in place to meet that particular goal. That is something that I cannot abide by as a Senator sworn to protect the interests of counties.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to speak to two analogies that have been used quite extensively by the team from the County Assembly. One is the analogy of the scorpion and the frog. I do not think anyone can ascribe the innocence of a frog in that particular analogy to the County Assembly of Meru. At the very minimum, it is a scorpion being carried by a crocodile on its back because both animals are extremely dangerous from the evidence that we have seen here.

Secondly, it is this much repeated song by Shaggy called: “It wasn’t me.” In fact, in that particular song, the counsel forgot that there was a collabo; there is another gentleman who is singing in that song as well. That gentleman says that I was caught live; there are photos and there is evidence. That is what we expected from the County Assembly. In the evidence of the photos of this gentleman on the counter in the shower, as the counsel sung, it is difficult for me to get behind the case by the County Assembly.

I rest my case.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. is one telling thing that came from the submissions of counsel, my good friend, Dr. Muthomi Thiankolu that, in fact, the motivation of the MCAs does not matter.

I want to try and persuade this House that motivation is everything. The reason why human beings do things is absolutely critical to the doing of those things. This is because motivation sets a goal for you and then you look for a means to get to that particular goal.

We have seen the evidence that has been led here, demonstrate clearly that a decision was made that Hon. Kawira Mwangaza had to go as the Governor of Meru County and then steps and plans were put in place to meet that particular goal. That is something that I cannot abide by as a Senator sworn to protect the interests of counties.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to speak to two analogies that have been used quite extensively by the team from the County Assembly. One is the analogy of the scorpion and the frog. I do not think anyone can ascribe the innocence of a frog in that particular analogy to the County Assembly of Meru. At the very minimum, it is a scorpion being carried by a crocodile on its back because both animals are extremely dangerous from the evidence that we have seen here.

Secondly, it is this much repeated song by Shaggy called: “It wasn’t me.” In fact, in that particular song, the counsel forgot that there was a collabo; there is another gentleman who is singing in that song as well. That gentleman says that I was caught live; there are photos and there is evidence. That is what we expected from the County Assembly. In the evidence of the photos of this gentleman on the counter in the shower, as the counsel sung, it is difficult for me to get behind the case by the County Assembly.

I rest my case.

Sen. Tabitha Keroche, you have the Floor

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. only admire the power in you, but they do not like it. Exercise the power that has been bestowed by the Meru people very responsibly, so that the men can support and walk with you. I have walked that journey, so I know.

Going forward, ensure you go and unite all the leaders of Meru County. Believe me, in case of any---

The Speaker (Hon. Kingi): Sen. (Prof.) Tom Odhiambo Ojienda, SC, please proceed.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. only admire the power in you, but they do not like it. Exercise the power that has been bestowed by the Meru people very responsibly, so that the men can support and walk with you. I have walked that journey, so I know.Going forward, ensure you go and unite all the leaders of Meru County. Believe me, in case of any---

Sen. (Prof.) Tom Odhiambo Ojienda, SC, please proceed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for according me the opportunity to make a contribution to the debate before the House on the impeachment of Governor Mwangaza under Article 181 of the Constitution.

It is clear that the seven charges levelled against the Governor of Meru County have a set threshold that must be established on how we settled decisions of the Supreme Court on the impeachment of Governor Sonko and set by the Court of Appeal on the impeachment of Governor Wambora.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I participated in both cases. I have also had the advantage of participating in the impeachment of the Governor of Wajir County, Mr. Mohamud, who successfully returned to office after impeachment. The threshold question is therefore important. I just want to address myself to that question.

The charges included; misappropriation and misuse of county resources, nepotism and related unethical practices, bullying, vilification and demeaning of other leaders as set out under Article 75 (2) and (3) , illegal appointments and usurpation of statutory powers, contempt of court, illegally naming a public road after her husband and lastly, contempt of the county assembly.

It is imperative that the threshold set or that should be set and as properly defined in the Sonko case, should be somewhere above the doubt and somewhere below the threshold required for criminal trials. Turn to the effect of impeachment and this is what should guide this assembly in voting. The effect of an impeachment is to permanently bar an individual from holding any public office. So, whatever you do today, you would be barring Governor Mwangaza from holding any public office in the Republic. Is this a fair act that this Senate should sit back and undertake when voting? I think that is the six million dollar question. I do not want to talk about scorpions, crocodiles and frogs, but in my understanding of what is before this Senate, the levels that have been---

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. governor. It is very clear that the governor abdicated her duties on record. The governor said that she had delegated her roles to the county secretary.

Number three, it goes to the point, where are the 1.5 million people of Meru County? It cannot be that the governor does not agree with Members of County Assembly (MCAs), the church, Njuri Ncheke and the 10 or 11 elected leaders. It is not that all others are wrong until you disenfranchise, humiliate, vilify and bully elected leaders in front of the President.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President and the Deputy President have on several occasions tried to reconcile. Why is it hard for the governor to work with the rest? Whenever a problem comes, they only come up with a gender card. I tell you there is a popular saying that, “What a man can do, a woman can do more.” There were insults from the men, but did you not see on record and on WhatsApp the governor herself telling the Deputy Governor that he will defecate avocado seeds? Which insult is better than the other? We cannot hide, we must lift the veil. For Meru to move forward, we must stand with MCAs and give them the confidence to ensure oversight.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I can assure you that if today Governor Kawira Mwangaza is shown the door, Meru will heal and will be better going into the future.

I submit.

Proceed, Sen. Osotsi.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. governor. It is very clear that the governor abdicated her duties on record. The governor said that she had delegated her roles to the county secretary.

Number three, it goes to the point, where are the 1.5 million people of Meru County? It cannot be that the governor does not agree with Members of County Assembly (MCAs), the church, Njuri Ncheke and the 10 or 11 elected leaders. It is not that all others are wrong until you disenfranchise, humiliate, vilify and bully elected leaders in front of the President.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President and the Deputy President have on several occasions tried to reconcile. Why is it hard for the governor to work with the rest? Whenever a problem comes, they only come up with a gender card. I tell you there is a popular saying that, “What a man can do, a woman can do more.” There were insults from the men, but did you not see on record and on WhatsApp the governor herself telling the Deputy Governor that he will defecate avocado seeds? Which insult is better than the other? We cannot hide, we must lift the veil. For Meru to move forward, we must stand with MCAs and give them the confidence to ensure oversight.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I can assure you that if today Governor Kawira Mwangaza is shown the door, Meru will heal and will be better going into the future.

I submit.

Proceed, Sen. Osotsi.

Thank you Mr. Speaker, Sir. Since I have a short time, I will start by saying that from the onset, this Senate agreed that we are going to listen to the merits and demerits of the case and decide.

I have spent hours sitting here and listening to the presentation by the two parties. I was shocked as an IT expert in my other life that the County Assembly presented to this House an extract from the Integrated Financial Management and Information Systems (IFMIS) ---

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

This particular extract was provided by an anonymous person called Salesio. This man has not been brought to this House to testify. This man is not known whether he exists or not.

(Laughter) Parliament is a House of record. We cannot be made to sit here for hours listening to submissions based on a document that is not verified. A document that is unlawful. This House has to be respected. In addition to that, there were some submissions given as evidence of WhatsApp. This matter was questioned by Sen. Orwoba and the counsel on the other side brushed over the issue. However, if you go to another law that was passed by this House called the Data Protection Act, Section 26 of that Act talks about the Data Subject Rights---

Sen. Tabitha Mutinda?

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

This particular extract was provided by an anonymous person called Salesio. This man has not been brought to this House to testify. This man is not known whether he exists or not.

(Laughter) Parliament is a House of record. We cannot be made to sit here for hours listening to submissions based on a document that is not verified. A document that is unlawful. This House has to be respected. In addition to that, there were some submissions given as evidence of WhatsApp. This matter was questioned by Sen. Orwoba and the counsel on the other side brushed over the issue. However, if you go to another law that was passed by this House called the Data Protection Act, Section 26 of that Act talks about the Data Subject Rights---

Sen. Tabitha Mutinda?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I start by appreciating the County Assembly of Meru for this far they have come. It has been challenging. It has been evident out there. It has been tough. They have walked a journey like any other journey that you can walk. Every journey has turbulence and ups and downs.

I note that we have very few women governors. We have only seven and Kawira is one of them. Governor Kawira, this is the second time that you have been returned to this House. I do not agree in any capacity on the videos that we have seen especially with some of the Meru male leaders. I speak as a married woman in the Meru community. Meru men are respectful. What we have seen is among the few. It is sad and should not have happened. I speak as a mother of a girl child. It is sad. As women, we are very few in this House, only

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. tunasema talaka ni mara tatu. Unaweza kumpa mke talaka akaenda akarudi. Ukampa ya pili, akaenda akarudi. Ya tatu ndio huwa ya mwisho. Kwa hivyo, Gavana Kawira alikuja hapa mara ya kwanza mwaka jana na talaka haikuweza kupita. Kwa hivyo, ako na fursa nyingine kuja hapa kuangalia ni vipi atatatua matatizo yake.

Ni masikitiko kwamba ushahidi uliotolewa haukuweza kuthibitisha makosa yaliyodaiwa kufanyika na Gavana Kawira. Ukiangalia makosa yote yaliyozungumziwa hapa na ushahidi uliyoletwa haukuweza kufikia kiwango kilichowekwa na Mahakama ya Upeo katika kuangalia maswala kama haya. Itakuwa ni dhuluma kubwa kuweza kumpeleka nyumbani Gavana Kawira Mwangaza kwa ushahidi ambao haukufikia kiwango kinachohitajika na mahakama.

Bw. Spika, uamuzi utakaofanywa usiku wa leo, hautasaidia yale matatizo ambayo yako Meru. Ni jukumu la viongozi ambao walichaguliwa wote, kuhakikisha kwamba tatizo hili wameweza kulitatua wao kama viongozi wa Meru. Hii ni kwa sababu matatizo ya Meru haiwezi kutatuliwa na viongozi wa kutoka Isiolo, Mombasa wala viongozi kutoka sehemu yoyote isipokuwa watu wa Meru wenyewe. Ni, waketi chini, waangalie matatizo haya ili waweze kuamua, ili waweze kupata maendeleo kama ilivyotarajiwa na Katiba yetu ya Mwaka 2010. Kwa hivyo, kwa kumalizia ni kwamba tumepata fursa ya kujua matatizo ya Meru. Fursa hii iko katika kaunti zetu zote tulizonazo katika nchi yetu ya Kenya.

Isiwe kwamba, wakitoka hapa mmoja aseme ameshinda. La. Watakaokuwa wameshinda ni watu wa Meru kupata uongozi na viongozi ambao watasaidia kupeleka Kaunti ya Meru mbele.

Asante.

Proceed, Sen. Methu.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. tunasema talaka ni mara tatu. Unaweza kumpa mke talaka akaenda akarudi. Ukampa ya pili, akaenda akarudi. Ya tatu ndio huwa ya mwisho. Kwa hivyo, Gavana Kawira alikuja hapa mara ya kwanza mwaka jana na talaka haikuweza kupita. Kwa hivyo, ako na fursa nyingine kuja hapa kuangalia ni vipi atatatua matatizo yake.

Ni masikitiko kwamba ushahidi uliotolewa haukuweza kuthibitisha makosa yaliyodaiwa kufanyika na Gavana Kawira. Ukiangalia makosa yote yaliyozungumziwa hapa na ushahidi uliyoletwa haukuweza kufikia kiwango kilichowekwa na Mahakama ya Upeo katika kuangalia maswala kama haya. Itakuwa ni dhuluma kubwa kuweza kumpeleka nyumbani Gavana Kawira Mwangaza kwa ushahidi ambao haukufikia kiwango kinachohitajika na mahakama.

Bw. Spika, uamuzi utakaofanywa usiku wa leo, hautasaidia yale matatizo ambayo yako Meru. Ni jukumu la viongozi ambao walichaguliwa wote, kuhakikisha kwamba tatizo hili wameweza kulitatua wao kama viongozi wa Meru. Hii ni kwa sababu matatizo ya Meru haiwezi kutatuliwa na viongozi wa kutoka Isiolo, Mombasa wala viongozi kutoka sehemu yoyote isipokuwa watu wa Meru wenyewe. Ni, waketi chini, waangalie matatizo haya ili waweze kuamua, ili waweze kupata maendeleo kama ilivyotarajiwa na Katiba yetu ya Mwaka 2010. Kwa hivyo, kwa kumalizia ni kwamba tumepata fursa ya kujua matatizo ya Meru. Fursa hii iko katika kaunti zetu zote tulizonazo katika nchi yetu ya Kenya.

Isiwe kwamba, wakitoka hapa mmoja aseme ameshinda. La. Watakaokuwa wameshinda ni watu wa Meru kupata uongozi na viongozi ambao watasaidia kupeleka Kaunti ya Meru mbele.

Asante.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

How am I supposed to know that a person who appears in a photo is a relative of Sen. Olekina or is my own relative? Many people have said that the person who was playing the guitar on this video looks like me.

(Laughter) Finally, on Charge No.3 - Bullying, Vilification and Demeaning of other Leaders, the evidence that was brought by the County Assembly was of a man playing guitar here, singing wenye wivu wajinyonge. That was the accusation that Governor Kawira Mwangaza demeans the other leaders. On the contrary, the videos as was played by the defence of the governor, printed an image of a patriarchal community, deep, painful images that I would never want my own children and wife--- That is not a society that we would want for our daughters. It is not a mistake for any woman to become a leader. This is not the way in which we can encourage our girls to become leaders. That when you are a leader, if you disagree with the other people, they use sexuality to harass you.

Hon. Senators, at this juncture, I will call the governor. Governor Kawira Mwangaza, you have 10 minutes to address the Senate.

Order, Hon. Senators. Hon. Kawira Mwangaza you can take the stand. You have 10 minutes.

Order, Hon. Senators, order.

Sen. Orwoba, leave the Chamber immediately.

Hasten please or the Serjeant-at-Arms will help you. Proceed, Governor Kawira Mwangaza. Gov. Kawira Mwangaza: Mr. Speaker, Sir---

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

How am I supposed to know that a person who appears in a photo is a relative of Sen. Olekina or is my own relative? Many people have said that the person who was playing the guitar on this video looks like me.

(Laughter) Finally, on Charge No.3 - Bullying, Vilification and Demeaning of other Leaders, the evidence that was brought by the County Assembly was of a man playing guitar here, singing wenye wivu wajinyonge. That was the accusation that Governor Kawira Mwangaza demeans the other leaders. On the contrary, the videos as was played by the defence of the governor, printed an image of a patriarchal community, deep, painful images that I would never want my own children and wife--- That is not a society that we would want for our daughters. It is not a mistake for any woman to become a leader. This is not the way in which we can encourage our girls to become leaders. That when you are a leader, if you disagree with the other people, they use sexuality to harass you.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

Hon. Senators, I will allow the Senator for Meru County five minutes to address the House.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. that she will pray to the Lord to help her overcome. This tells us there is a problem in Meru County. It is not the way we put our steps, shout or clap but Meru has issues that need to be addressed. Meru county is not living in a vacuum. I want to address the Head of State, His Excellency the President, to take charge and understand what is ailing Meru County.

I thank the MCAs for doing their work excellently. There is no way 59 MCAs can be wrong or mad to impeach the governor for the third time. The MCAs have issues that they have raised in their Petition.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, unless these ladies and gentlemen are heard, then we can never solve the issues of Meru. As we speak here, I want to tell this House and convince them that Meru County has issues and problems. We have seen video clips played in vernacular. I challenge that process of executing these witnesses. Some of the clips are not audible. What is translated might not be what was said. How do we determine that a clip is articulate?

I request my colleagues that as they make the decision to look at all the counts. Let us not bring it down to only one issue about women. The kibiri is an instrument used to stir porridge or maziwa lala.

An

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to also make my contribution to the Motion. From the onset, I challenge the procedure because I wish we would be making these comments after we did the voting.

If you hear the comments of many Senators here, even from the Governor, it is like we have concluded business and we are yet to cast our votes. Nevertheless, Article 96 (1) of the Constitution states that the Senate represents counties and serves to protect the interests of the counties and their governments.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish that before any governor is brought before this House to prosecute any impeachment process, this House can go to that particular county and understand the issues that have been raised by the Members of County Assembly (MCAS) of the county. I live in Meru County and even tomorrow, I will be travelling there. All the 47 of the 67 Senators who are here do not live in Meru County. I wish that during this process, at some point, before the governor is brought to this House; there could be an intermediary process in a way that the issues can be canvased.

I thank Sen. Okiya Omtatah for what he is trying to do in his Petition. I wish a tribunal can be set up to sit with the MCAs, governor and leaders of the particular county so that they can be heard. When any governor is impeached and brought to the Senate immediately and directly, members of that county lose the opportunity to prosecute their issues. On this case, Meru County has a big problem. We have heard the Governor confess

As a leader of the Meru community, that clip was a misrepresentation of the actual meaning. As we make our decision, I hope the Senate can still review those clips.

An

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The Speaker (Hon. Kingi) Overruled.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. saying. You cannot openly side and say that certain leaders have spoken about things that do not impress you while we have seen that it appears to be a culture in Meru where every leader, including Governor Kawira who is here with us, says foul things to each other. This is a bad culture that we need not encourage in our politics.

My final words to Governor Kawira, I do not know whether you will survive or fall. However, take time to read the Bible. Do not just preach. If you read the Bible you will find answers to some of the questions that continue to follow you. It cannot be that all the 59 MCAs are saying in less than a year on two occasions that you are unfit to hold office and be thoroughly wrong. You need to soul search and find it deep within yourself to reflect. If God grants you grace and you continue to serve this people, please change your ways and find it in your heart to work with other leaders. This is not to say that I know how this vote will go. It is now the opportunity of the 47 delegations – I am being told to talk to the Members of Parliament, but they are our colleagues. Many of them – I am pressed for time and I want Senators to vote before midnight. I have said everything that I needed to say. If the glove does not fit, you must acquit it.

Thank you.

Hon. Senators, pursuant to Standing Order No.84 (1) , I determine that this matter, indeed, affects counties. Therefore, voting shall be by Delegations.

I direct the Serjeant-at-Arms to ring the Bell for 10 minutes.

The Bell needs to be rung for 10 minutes because the system needs to reboot. It has been overstretched beyond its limits. If we start voting now, it will collapse. For those 10 minutes, the system will reboot and then voting shall be done electronically.

Senators, do not leave the Chamber. Thank you.

Hon. Senators, kindly take your seats.

Sen. Mandago, why are you standing? Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly proceed to close the Doors and draw the Bars.

Hon. Senators, before we proceed to vote, allow me to bring clarity to this process, so that there are no mistakes as we proceed to vote. We are voting seven times because the charges are seven.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

We will call one Charge at a time as you vote until we come to the very last Charge. I would like to clarify that there are seven charges. If one of them is substantiated, Her Excellency Governor Kawira ceases being the governor of Meru County, even if it is just one charge that has been substantiated.

If I call the charge, and you vote ‘Yes’, it means you are saying that the charge has been substantiated. If you vote, “no”, you are saying that charge has not been substantiated. That clarity is important so that we do not make mistakes as we proceed.

Now, hon. Senators, voting shall be done electronically. At this juncture, therefore, I will call upon the delegates to log out. Serjeant-at-Arms, I want you to go around and pull out any delegate card that is inside the delegate unit.

Once you have done so, kindly confirm so that we move to the next stage. At this juncture, hon. Senators, you must be holding your delegate cards in your hands.

Serjeant-at-Arms, we are waiting for your signal. Now, hon. Senators, proceed to log back into the delegate unit.

Before you proceed to vote, I will now put the question- THAT WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution and Section 33of the County Governments Act, on Wednesday, 25th October, 2023, the Meru County Assembly approved a Motion to remove from office, by impeachment, Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County;

WHEREAS, by a letter Ref. M/CARES/VOL.IV/43, dated 26th October, 2023, and received in the Office of the Speaker of the Senate on Friday, 27th October, 2023, the Speaker of the Meru County Assembly informed the Speaker of the Senate of the approval of the Motion by the County Assembly and further forwarded to the Speaker of the Senate, documents in evidence of the proceedings of the Assembly;

FURTHER WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Order 80 of the Senate, the Senate heard the County Assembly on the grounds for removal from office by impeachment of Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County;

AND FURTHER, WHEREAS pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Order No. 80, the Senate also heard the Hon. Kawira Mwangaza on the grounds for her proposed removal from office by impeachment as the Governor of Meru County;

NOW THEREFORE, pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Order 80, the Senate resolves to remove from office by impeachment, the Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County, on the following charges-

Charge 1: Misappropriation and Misuse of County Resources Charge 2: Nepotism and related unethical practices Charge 3: Bullying, Vilification and Demeaning other Leaders Charge 4: Illegal Appointments and Usurpation of Statutory Powers Charge 5: Contempt of Court Charge 6: Illegally naming a public road after her Husband Charge 7: Contempt of the Assembly

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

(Question put) Hon. Senators, I further guide that we shall have a separate vote for each charge. There will therefore be seven separate votes. We shall now proceed to vote.

You may proceed to vote.

Hon. Senators, pursuant to Standing Order No.84 (1) , I determine that this matter, indeed, affects counties. Therefore, voting shall be by Delegations.

I direct the Serjeant-at-Arms to ring the Bell for 10 minutes.

The Bell needs to be rung for 10 minutes because the system needs to reboot. It has been overstretched beyond its limits. If we start voting now, it will collapse. For those 10 minutes, the system will reboot and then voting shall be done electronically.

Senators, do not leave the Chamber. Thank you.

Hon. Senators, kindly take your seats.

Sen. Mandago, why are you standing? Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly proceed to close the Doors and draw the Bars.

Hon. Senators, before we proceed to vote, allow me to bring clarity to this process, so that there are no mistakes as we proceed to vote. We are voting seven times because the charges are seven.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

We will call one Charge at a time as you vote until we come to the very last Charge. I would like to clarify that there are seven charges. If one of them is substantiated, Her Excellency Governor Kawira ceases being the governor of Meru County, even if it is just one charge that has been substantiated.

If I call the charge, and you vote ‘Yes’, it means you are saying that the charge has been substantiated. If you vote, “no”, you are saying that charge has not been substantiated. That clarity is important so that we do not make mistakes as we proceed.

Now, hon. Senators, voting shall be done electronically. At this juncture, therefore, I will call upon the delegates to log out. Serjeant-at-Arms, I want you to go around and pull out any delegate card that is inside the delegate unit.

Once you have done so, kindly confirm so that we move to the next stage. At this juncture, hon. Senators, you must be holding your delegate cards in your hands.

Serjeant-at-Arms, we are waiting for your signal. Now, hon. Senators, proceed to log back into the delegate unit.

Before you proceed to vote, I will now put the question- THAT WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution and Section 33of the County Governments Act, on Wednesday, 25th October, 2023, the Meru County Assembly approved a Motion to remove from office, by impeachment, Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County;

WHEREAS, by a letter Ref. M/CARES/VOL.IV/43, dated 26th October, 2023, and received in the Office of the Speaker of the Senate on Friday, 27th October, 2023, the Speaker of the Meru County Assembly informed the Speaker of the Senate of the approval of the Motion by the County Assembly and further forwarded to the Speaker of the Senate, documents in evidence of the proceedings of the Assembly;

FURTHER WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Order 80 of the Senate, the Senate heard the County Assembly on the grounds for removal from office by impeachment of Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County;

AND FURTHER, WHEREAS pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Order No. 80, the Senate also heard the Hon. Kawira Mwangaza on the grounds for her proposed removal from office by impeachment as the Governor of Meru County;

NOW THEREFORE, pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, Section 33 of the County Governments Act and Standing Order 80, the Senate resolves to remove from office by impeachment, the Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, the Governor of Meru County, on the following charges-

Charge 1: Misappropriation and Misuse of County Resources Charge 2: Nepotism and related unethical practices Charge 3: Bullying, Vilification and Demeaning other Leaders Charge 4: Illegal Appointments and Usurpation of Statutory Powers Charge 5: Contempt of Court Charge 6: Illegally naming a public road after her Husband Charge 7: Contempt of the Assembly

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

(Question put) Hon. Senators, I further guide that we shall have a separate vote for each charge. There will therefore be seven separate votes. We shall now proceed to vote.

You may proceed to vote.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

NOES: Sen. Boy, Kwale County; Sen. Chesang, Trans Nzoia County; Sen. Faki, Mombasa County; Sen. Gataya Mo Fire, Tharaka Nithi County; Sen. Joe Nyutu, Murang’a County; Sen. Kavindu Muthama, Machakos County; Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, Kakamega County; Sen. Kinyua, Laikipia County; Sen. Kisang, Elgeyo Markwet; Samburu County; Sen. Lomenen, Turkana County; Sen. M. Kajwang’, Homa Bay County; Sen. Maanzo, Makueni County; Sen. Madzayo, Kilifi County; Sen. Methu, Nyandarua County; Sen. Mungatana, MGH, Tana River County; Sen. Mwaruma, Taita Taveta County; Sen. (Dr.) Oburu, Siaya County; Sen. Oketch Gicheru, Migori County; Sen. Okiya Omtatah, Busia County; Sen. Olekina, Narok County; Sen. Omogeni, Nyamira County; Sen. Onyonka, Kisii County; Sen. Osotsi, Vihiga County; Sen. Sifuna, Nairobi City County; Sen. Tabitha Keroche, Nakuru County; Sen. Thang’wa, Kiambu County; Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, SC, Kisumu County and Sen. Wambua, Kitui County.

AYES: 5 NOES: 42 ABSTENTIONS: Nil.

AYES: 19 NOES: 28 ABSTENTIONS: Nil.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. Murgor, West Pokot County; Sen. Mwaruma, Taita Taveta County; Sen. (Dr.) Oburu, Siaya County; Sen. Oketch Gicheru, Migori County; Sen. Okiya Omtatah, Busia County; Sen. Olekina, Narok County; Sen. Omogeni, Nyamira County; Sen. Onyonka, Kisii County; Sen. Osotsi, Vihiga County; Sen. Seki, Kajiado County; Sen. Sifuna, Nairobi City County; Sen. Tabitha Keroche, Nakuru County; Sen. Thang’wa, Kiambu County; Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, SC Kisumu County; Sen. Wafula, Bungoma County; Sen. Wakili Sigei, Bomet County; Sen. Wamatinga, Nyeri County and Sen. Wambua, Kitui County.

Hon. Senators, the results of the division on Charge number two, nepotism and related unethical practices.

AYES: 5 NOES: 42 ABSTENTIONS: Nil.

AYES: 3 NOES: 44 ABSENTIONS: Nil.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

AYES: 3 NOES: 44 ABSENTIONS: Nil.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.

AYES: Sen. Abass, Wajir County; Sen. Cherarkey, Nandi County; Sen. Chute, Marsabit County; and, Sen. Kathuri, Meru County.

NOES: Sen. Abdul Haji, Garissa County; Sen. Ali Roba, Mandera County; Sen. Boy, Kwale County; Sen. Cheptumo, Baringo County; Sen. Cheruiyot, Kericho County; Sen. Chesang, Trans Nzoia County; Sen. Dullo, Isiolo County; Sen. Faki, Mombasa County; Sen. Gataya, Tharaka Nithi County; Sen. Githuku, Lamu County; Sen. Joe Nyutu, Murang’a County; Sen. Kavindu Muthama, Machakos County; Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, Kakamega County; Sen. Kinyua, Laikipia County; Sen. Kisang, Elgeyo Marakwet County; Sen. (Dr.) Lelegwe Ltumbesi, Samburu County; Sen. Lomenen, Turkana County; Sen. M. Kajwang’, Homa Bay County; Sen. Maanzo, Makueni County; Sen. Madzayo, Kilifi County; Sen. Mandago, Uasin Gishu County; Sen. Methu, Nyandarua County; Sen. Mungatana, MGH, Tana River County; Sen. Munyi Mundigi, Embu County; Sen. (Dr.) Murango, Kirinyaga County; Sen. Murgor, West Pokot County; Sen. Mwaruma, Taita Taveta County; Sen. (Dr.) Oburu, Siaya County; Sen. Oketch Gicheru, Migori County; Sen. Okiya Omtatah, Busia County; Sen. Olekina, Narok County; Sen. Omogeni, Nyamira County; Sen. Onyonka, Kisii County; Sen. Osotsi, Vihiga County; Sen. Seki, Kajiado County; Sen. Sifuna, Nairobi City County; Sen. Tabitha Keroche, Nakuru County; Sen. Thang’wa, Kiambu County; Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, SC Kisumu County; Sen. Wafula, Bungoma County; Sen. Wakili Sigei, Bomet County; Sen. Wamatinga, Nyeri County; and, Sen. Wambua, Kitui County.

AYES: 4 NOES: 43 ABSENTIONS: Nil.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate. Khalwale, Kakamega County; Sen. Kinyua, Laikipia County; Sen. Kisang, Elgeyo Marakwet County; Sen. (Dr.) Lelegwe Ltumbesi, Samburu County; Sen. Lomenen, Turkana County; Sen. M. Kajwang’, Homa Bay County; Sen. Maanzo, Makueni County; Sen. Madzayo, Kilifi County; Sen. Mandago, Uasin Gishu County; Sen. Methu, Nyandarua County; Sen. Mungatana, MGH, Tana River County; Sen. Murgor, West Pokot County; Sen. Mwaruma, Taita Taveta County; Sen. (Dr.) Oburu, Siaya County; Sen. Oketch Gicheru, Migori County; Sen. Okiya Omtatah, Busia County; Sen. Olekina, Narok County; Sen. Omogeni, Nyamira County; Sen. Onyonka, Kisii County; Sen. Osotsi, Vihiga County; Sen. Seki, Kajiado County; Sen. Sifuna, Nairobi City County; Sen. Tabitha Keroche, Nakuru County; Sen. Thang’wa, Kiambu County; Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, SC Kisumu County; Sen. Wakili Sigei, Bomet County; and, Sen. Wambua, Kitui County.

AYES: 4 NOES: 43 ABSENTIONS: Nil.

A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate.