Petition to compel the county assembly of Laikipia to impeach the governor has been filed by a section of residents.
As the country prepares to combat the new corona virus strain from India, Laikipia’s governor is facing allegations of systemic corruption, gross misconduct, and abuse of office.
The petition was filed just weeks after several patients died as a result of negligence brought on by a birthday party held at the facility.
I, the undersigned petitioner being a patriotic citizen of the republic of Kenya, pursuant to articles 2, 3, 10, 73, 75, 181 and 232 of the Constitution, The public officer ethics act CAP 183, The county governments act and part xxii of the Laikipia County
‘The petition reads
Assembly standing orders
With the possibility of impeachment from opponents who claim his leadership style breaches the constitution, Laikipia Governor, a lone ranger, took to the streets in a move perceived as a damage control exercise by pundits.
Petition Highlights
The petition cites the misuse of public monies as well as the failure to reinstate 34 medical specialists who were fired over a year ago.
In 2019, the Governor made headlines when the Nyeri Employment & Labor Court ordered him to reinstate experts at Nanyuki Teaching & Referral Hospital after he fired them, saying they were paid more than him despite the fact that he was their boss.
Since July 2019, the county administration has failed to follow the public service commission’s decision to restore the 34 public medics and pay them all their dues equitably.
KMPDU had gone to court on behalf of the fired medics and experts, and the subject was referred back to PSC for arbitration after an agreement was reached as an order of the Nyeri Employment & Labor Court.
The public health sector in Laikipia has collapsed as a result of these disputes.
The petition has also raised concerns over the lack of public participation in the policy making processes.
In the previous two weeks, residents have collected almost 7000 signatures. The goal is to dissolve the county legislature with 20,000 signatures.
More Reasons For The Petition
Following the petition, members of the county assembly, led by Chief Whip Hon. Kiguru, rejected the bond, citing flaws in the recommendations of the Budget and Appropriations Committee.
Mary Samken, the committee’s chairperson, has been accused of lobbying for its acceptance at the expense of the majority of Laikipians’ interests.
I don’t see any clear outline on how the funded projects will benefit our county directly. So we need time to have an elaborate timeline and also a clear outline on how the project will benefit Laikipians directly. I am not sure how the public participation was done and that is if it was done. Another issue is that, are we are going to have the 1.6 Billion debt without Members having time to understand and details on how we are going to pay this debt? So somehow I can agree with the committee but lacking a clear outline on how we are going to find money to pay back the loan, I stand to reject the committee’s report.
Hon. Kiguru
Another MCA weighed in heavily on the rejection of the bond
we are approaching the end of financial year and I believe that this House still needs time to scrutinize the report before approving this Debt Management Paper.
Hon Suge
Another reason is that borrowing a billion plus in this county, I think that even the taxpayers need to be engaged and be well advised on clear strategies which the government have put in place to ensure that this burden will not fall on the Laikipians. We know that our people are still trying to survive from the effects of Covid-19 and putting an extra burden on them is really punishable to them. So I stand to reject this report by the Budget Committee.
We also need to understand the mode of payment. I have even seen the priorities that have been put that these funds will finance those projects. We as an Assembly need to look at the CIDP to see whether these are the right priorities and whether these projects will support the Laikipians to get economic impact to our people.