Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala on Tuesday, June 30 outlined a raft of measures he wants implemented to streamline the process of impeaching governors.
Malala, who led the 11-member select committee that cleared Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru who faced impeachment, stated that the process was being misused for political lynchings.
The Senator blamed this on the inexplicable animosity between Governors and County Assemblies in several counties.
"We shall be making legislative proposals to cushion Governors from being politically lynched. As it stands right now, let the truth be told, I think the toxic relationship between Governors and MCAs, the political differences they hold, is the motivation behind the impeachment.
"Some of the MCAs do not have real substance. For example in the case of Kirinyaga County, we had 12 allegations against Anne Waiguru but only 2 allegations of the issues on wrong travels were prosecuted.
Malala further questioned why the MCAs aligned 12 allegations only to prosecute two and drop 10.
"They did not have any evidence," he asserted
Identifying various proposals, Malala called for direct public participation in impeachment motions at the county level, as well as greater attention on the judicial process.
He noted that he wanted MCAs who initiate impeachment motions to secure the support of at least a third of registered voters in the county by collecting signatures.
"It is unfair for a Governor who garnered 500,000 votes to be impeached by 33 people. We shall demand for one-third of signatures from the electorate. We need direct participation of the sovereign power from the people in the future," he observed.
The Senator argued that he considered it unfair for a Governor who secured hundreds of thousands of votes to be ousted by a handful of people.
He also called for cases on graft and abuse of office to be taken up by investigative agencies including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), noting that a conviction in court would make it easy for Senators to impeach embattled Governors.
"I think our constitution is very clear on sovereign power. Article 1 tells us that you may exercise sovereign power indirectly through elected leaders.
"But that does not stop members of the public from participating directly in the impeachment of a Governor. An impeachment of Governor is not child's play, it's serious stuff.
Malala also called for the process at the County Assembly to be streamlined to ensure Governors are given time to defend themselves in a fair hearing.
He, however, dismissed suggestions by Council of Governors (CoG) chair Wycliffe Oparanya that MCAs in various counties drop impeachment bids until after the Covid-19 period.
Watch his interview below:
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