A petition has been filed at the High Court seeking to have Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga declared unfit to occupy public office and, as such, be removed as governor.
This comes just over a week after a video clip leaked online, showing the governor claiming that the demise of the former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, would bring back all the development projects directed to Nyanza to the Mount Kenya region.
The petition was filed by Bunge la Mwananchi alongside Lawrence Oyugi, Komeade Bush, and Nicholas Kimanzi, who claimed that the remarks were ethnic and inflammatory and deemed to undermine national unity and cohesion.
“The 1st respondent, Mutahi Kahiga, continues to hold a powerful and influential office; his continued presence in that office provides him with a platform from which he can repeat and amplify the impugned inflammatory and divisive utterances,” the petitioners argue in their filing.
They also argue that the utterances by the governor amounted to hate speech and gross misconduct under the Constitution, the Leadership and Integrity Act, and the National Cohesion and Integration Act.
Specifically, they contend that the remarks violated key constitutional provisions, including Articles 10, 27, 28, 73, and 75, which touch on national values, integrity, equality, and dignity.
Highlighting that such ethnic remarks might stir up clashes like the ones experienced in the 2007/2008 post-election violence that was experienced, the petitioners asked the court to bar Kahiga from making further inflammatory or ethnic-based statements.
They also want the court to compel the Ethics and Anti-Graft Commission (EACC) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to investigate him and ultimately declare him unfit to hold any public office.
The case could see the governor suspended and removed from office if upheld by the court.
Following public outrage due to his remarks made on October 17, the governor apologised to the Odinga family and Kenya at large hours later, even stepping down from his position as the Vice Chairperson of the Council of Governors (COG).
“I want to sincerely apologise to our mourning nation, to the family of the Rt. Hon Former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga; Mama Ida Odinga, her children Rosemary, Junior, and Winnie, Hon. Senator Oburu Odinga; and Hon. MP Ruth Odinga; the ODM fraternity, the Luo Nation; and Kenyans at large,” Kahiga said during a press briefing on October 18.
“My remarks were in no way celebratory. What I meant is that under the current broad-based government, we have seen skewed development and, politically, the loss of the Rt Hon. Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga sends everyone back to the drawing board,” he clarified.
