On Thursday, December 19, Senate majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen was forced to ask all senators to cancel their Christmas plans barely five days to the holiday.
The senator made the call a few minutes after Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu was impeached by the County Assembly of Kiambu.
"To all Senators please cancel your Christmas and New Year travel plans. Those already out of the country take the next flight back home. Duty calls!" read a tweet by the senator.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Murkomen stated that the standing orders required the Senate to act on the governor's impeachment within seven days.
"Due to Waititu's impeachment, the seven days begin to run and as a result, the timelines will be within this Christmas period," Murkomen stated.
On whether the Elgeyo-Marakwet senator was capable of ordering senators back to the house to decide on the fate of the embattled Jubilee governor, Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka had earlier informed Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja that only majority and minority leaders could call for a special sitting when he sought to reconvene the house to discuss the precarious state at the County Government of Nairobi.
“I have spoken to Senators Kipchumba Murkomen and James Orengo asking them to discuss amongst themselves on the issues brought forward by Sakaja and decide whether we should have a special sitting or not,” Lusaka revealed in an interview with Citizen TV on Friday, December 13.
Murkomen's latest statement is therefore an indication that he would be invoking his powers as majority leader to reconvene the Senate to rest the Waittitu matter swiftly even as the governor vowed to go to the courts to stop the process.
The impeachment of Waititu is on grounds of mishandling of county funds.
In the unanimous vote, 63 MCAs voted to impeach the governor with only one member voting against the motion even as Waititu's right-hand man Sports CEC Karungo wa Thang'wa claimed that several MCAs were not present at at the vote.
The motion to impeach Waititu was brought to the floor of the house on December 3, by Ndenderu MCA Solomon Kinuthia who has consistently been opposed to Waititu's leadership style.
According to the Constitution of Kenya 2010, a governor may be removed from office in case of gross violation of the constitution, where there are serious reasons for believing that the county governor has committed a crime under national or international law; abuse of office or gross misconduct or physical or mental incapacity to perform the functions of office of county governor.
