Wrangles between the Members of County Assembly (MCAs) and the office of the governor of Nyamira County reached a fever pitch on Tuesday after offices belonging to three county executives at the assembly were forcefully locked.
This drastic action was taken after the MCAs kicked out three County Executive Committee Members (CECMs) following weeks of disagreements with Governor Amos Nyaribo. The executive members who were kicked out belong to the environment, education, and sports ministries.
"This building belongs to the Nyamira County Assembly and, because of the lack of offices, they were being used by the county executive," Vincent Benecha, the Kiabonyoru MCA, stated.
"The offices were supposed to host MCAs and departments. So the chairpersons and their departments do not have a space to hold meetings. They were tenants, and we have decided to chase them away because we had issued them a warning, but they seemed reluctant."
Members of the public also had something to say about the incidents, stating that Senator Okong'o Omogeni was not doing enough to quell the wrangles.
They also noted that workers in the county assembly had yet to be paid six months' worth of their salaries, faulting the governor for convening with the recently ousted county speaker to frustrate the MCAs.
"We have a County Senator Okong'o Omogeni who is supposed to intervene when there are issues and help solve them. All the MCAs and county assembly workers have not been paid for the last six months," a resident lamented.
"This is all because the speaker who was removed from office is working with the governor to ensure the money is not disbursed."
In October 2024, the MCAs succeeded in the impeachment of their assembly Speaker Enock Okero, just a month after unsuccessfully trying to impeach Governor Nyaribo.
Accused of gross misconduct, the former speaker was ousted following months of county assembly leadership rows, with 24 MCAs supporting the impeachment motion and 11 abstaining.
A month earlier, the county governor had survived an impeachment motion after 22 MCAs voted for his removal and 12 voted to save him.
He narrowly escaped the ouster in a second attempt, as the 22 MCAs did not reach the 23 threshold required to impeach him.
