Members of the Meru County Assembly (MCAs) on Wednesday accused Governor Kawira Mwangaza of nepotism, claiming that the County chief has hired 6 relatives to senior positions in her administration.
Speaking during impeachment proceedings, the lawmakers claimed that Governor Mwangaza appointed her immediate relatives as well as those of her husband Murega Baichu to plum dockets.
The mover of the motion argued that Governor Mwangaza had appointed her brother as her bodyguard.
The lawmakers further decried that Kawira had appointed one of her sisters as her bodyguard and another as her personal assistant.
According to the MCA, the two sisters have also been assigned diplomatic responsibilities.
In yet another instance, the county government was also accused of hiring the governor's brother-in-law to the position of Director of External Linkages.
Her husband's nephew, on the other hand, serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Meru Youth Service alongside another role as the acting Chief Officer in the Department of Finance.
"The Governor is responsible for the management and utilisation of county resources. That means that she is the overall manager of the county," stated one of the lawmakers.
In 2022, Mwangaza famously appointed her husband to two state jobs; as the patron of Meru Youth Service and the Ambassador to Meru's hustlers.
At the time, she argued that Baichu had offered to carry out the two roles without drawing a salary from the County.
"His Excellency First Gentleman Murega of Meru County currently holds the ambassadorial role by the Ministry of Tourism and when you see him there he is an apostle," Mwangaza announced at the time
"Today we are giving him a job without pay and allowances. He will be a volunteer in the docket of Meru Youth Service."
The move, however, angered the lawmakers who instituted an impeachment motion seeking to oust Mwangaza.
Mwangaza, however, survived the impeachment motion in December 2022 after Senators dismissed the impeachment bid.
