The Nakuru High Court temporarily stopped the impeachment of Wahome Ndegwa as Speaker of the County Assembly of Nyandarua.
Justice Hillary Chemitei upheld Justice Joel Ngugi’s orders of January 26 that paused Wahome’s impeachment, on the basis that Ngugi had issued extensive orders over the same matter.
“It is necessary to maintain the status quo in regards to orders of January 26. Justice Ngugi’s orders must be followed through unless the court is persuaded otherwise,” ruled Chemitei.
Wahome was impeached on February 10 for the second time where 26 out of 37 MCAs voted in support of the motion. The first process was carried out on January 2021, where 30 out of 39 MCAs voted for his ouster.
Chemetei instructed the MCAs to follow through with the earlier orders as he had already made a conclusion on the matter in January 26.
“The court hereby restrained the respondents (county assembly) and other government bodies from de-gazetting the applicant (Wahome) as speaker of Nyandarua County Assembly,” said Justice Chemitei.
Wahome moved to the High Court and challenged the impeachment process saying that the ward representatives did not follow the proper procedure of impeaching a speaker. He also noted that the court had accepted his submissions and put his impeachment on hold.
The file was placed before Chemitei on Monday, February 15.
Wahome was put back to office by Ngugi early this year after his first impeachment in December 2020. He was accused of gross misconduct, misuse of office and nepotism.
“The speaker has outrightly shown that he is unable to hold office. That is why we want him to get out of the office so that we can have a competent person. All he keeps asking from the executive is for more money yet he cannot account for the ones he has been allocated,” said the Majority Leader Edinard King’ori.
Wahome is also caught up in a disagreement with Nyandarua County Governor, Francis Kimemia, who has in the past accused him of closing the County Assembly premise to stop a planned impeachment.
Past reports also indicated that Kimemia was influential in assembling legislators to accelerate Ndegwa's impeachment process so as to bring normalcy in the County Assembly.
