Over twenty Kirinyaga Members of County Assembly (MCAs) have settled their scores with County Governor Anne Waiguru. The two parties agreed to work together after holding private discussions on Thursday, August 27.
The mediation talks were chaired by Mt. Kenya Foundation leaders under Peter Munga. The legislators and Waigru agreed on how to divide the Ksh.5.6 billion 2020-2021 county budget.
“We agreed Waiguru will also withdraw the budget court case where we were represented by our lawyer Ndegwa Njiru,” Majority Leader James Kamau Murango disclosed.
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru is set to face another impeachment process after Members of County Assembly started collecting signatures to disband her administration.
The process commenced on Monday, July 13 after Waiguru reached out to President Uhuru Kenyatta to help her resolve a standoff with the MCAs over Kirinyaga County budget.
Kirinyaga Assembly Majority Leader Kamau Murango stated that they had initiated the process of collecting signatures in all 24 wards in the county.
"I have already collected over 1,000 signatures in my ward," Murango proclaimed.
In her statement after the budget impasse, Waiguru accused the MCAs of removing over Ksh300 million meant to pay salaries for health workers and the construction of ward offices.
On Friday, June 26, the governor survived an impeachment motion tabled by the MCAs in the Senate. The Senator Cleophas Malala-led Committee cleared Waiguru of two charges against her including gross violation of the constitution and other laws, and abuse of office.
In her defence, Waiguru had lamented that MCAs had outlined more impeachment motions against her and urged the Senate to protect her and other governors.
"Focus must shift to protecting Governors and County Executives from the excessive overstepping of the oversight power by MCAs. Kirinyaga MCAs have also made several statements that this is just one of nine impeachments they have lined up to ensure they destabilize the County totally," she lamented.
In response, Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala outlined a raft of measures to be implemented to streamline the process of impeaching governors. Malala called for direct public participation in impeachment motions at the county level, as well as greater attention on the judicial process.
The MCAs retaliated by vowing to impeach her after she secured the victory. They claimed that Governor Waiguru had survived the impeachment despite the grave accusations and therefore she would disregard the law.
Waiguru's effort to solve the stalemate with the MCAs backfired after a list of people proposed to constitute the reconciliation committee was rejected. She withdrew the names after MCAs declined to participate in any peace talks.
