Members of the Nyamira County Assembly on Thursday impeached their Speaker Enock Okero just one month after taking a vote to impeach the County Governor.
The MCAs voted to impeach the Speaker over claims of gross misconduct while discharging his duties at the helm of the Assembly. Over the past several months, however, the assembly had been consumed by chaos over the leadership crisis.
During the voting, 24 MCAs supported the impeachment motion against Okero while 11 abstained.
Okero’s impeachment followed a motion against him that was submitted at the County Assembly seeking to oust him following accusations of gross misconduct on October 8, this year.
''This morning we entered the Assembly to begin on the business of the day and the impeachment motion was submitted over the gross misconduct of the Speaker and so many things involving corruption among other issues that have since come up,’’ Matwere Julius, Bonyamatuta Ward MCA told the media.
Okero was then asked to step aside as his deputy took over despite earlier protests that he had staged.
He was then sent on compulsory leave as the Assembly instituted an Adhoc Committee to look into the allegations that he was facing.
''We have selected an Ad Hoc Committee to look into the allegations, we have also sent the County Public Service board home,’’ Matwere revealed.
The County Service Board was sent home over failure to submit financial reports at the end of every three months, as required by the law.
A month ago, Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo survived an impeachment motion after a total of 22 Members of the County Assembly voted to ouster him against 12 who voted to save him.
Nyaribo miraculously survived the impeachment with only one vote, after the total votes cast to impeach him failed to reach the minimum threshold of 23.
The leadership crisis has affected the county, especially the governor, who has survived two impeachment attempts within the first term. Additionally, the governor failed to appear at the Assembly for his impeachment hearing, portraying the deeply contested issues at the county.
