• In the proposed law, at least two-thirds of members of a county assembly will be required to vote in favour of an impeachment motion to remove a CEC.
• The Bill has been introduced in the Senate for the first reading.
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Impeaching county executive committee members will no longer be a walk in the park for MCAs if a new Bill currently before the Senate is enacted.
The County Governments (Amendment) Bill, 2023 seeks to tighten the ouster threshold to safeguard the CECs from the wrath of the ward reps.
“This Bill proposes to enhance the threshold of voting in a county assembly for the removal of a member of a county executive committee,” the Bill states.
In the proposed law sponsored by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, at least two-thirds of members of a county assembly will be required to vote in favour of an impeachment motion to remove a CEC.
“Cognizant that the office of county executive committee member is established by the Constitution and noting the adverse consequences of removal by impeachment of a member of a county executive committee, the threshold for voting for such a removal in the Act are low,” the Bill states.
The Bill has been introduced in the Senate for the first reading.
Currently, a CEC can be removed by a simple majority, at least more than half of the members of the county assembly.
Cherargei argues in the Bill that the threshold is too low especially given the consequences of impeachment.
CECs, who are equivalents of CSs in the national government, head various dockets in the county executive charged with discharging of devolved functions as set out in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution.
Several CECs have suffered impeachment by MCAs. However, the ward reps have been accused of executing the removal motions on flimsy grounds, sometimes political, owing to low threshold.
Section 40 of the County Governments Act provides for the procedure for the removal of a member of the county executive by a county assembly
The principal act – the County Governments Act – states that a motion of impeachment shall be supported by a majority of the members of the county assembly for a CEC to stand impeached.
The Act stipulates that an MCA seeking to sponsor a motion to impeach a CEC must secure at least a third of signatures of the members of the county assembly to file the motion.
Such a motion can be initiated on grounds of gross violation of the Constitution or any other law; incompetence; abuse of office; and gross misconduct.
The motion can also be filed if the CEC has been convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment for at least six months.
Once the motion is filed, a special committee shall be set up to investigate the charges levelled against the CEC and file a report in 10 days.
“If the select committee reports that it finds the allegations substantiated, the county assembly shall vote whether to approve the resolution requiring the county executive committee member to be dismissed,” the Act states.
If a resolution is supported by a majority of the members of the county assembly, the speaker of the county assembly shall promptly deliver the resolution to the governor. The governor shall dismiss the county executive committee member
However, in the new bill, Cherargei states that an MCA seeking to file an impeachment motion must secure at two-thirds of the signatures of the members of county assembly.