- Kinya said several young men were arrested and charged with the attempted burning of the House.
- The deputy majority leader listed three grounds upon which she wants Governor Mwangaza sent packing.
Image: SENATE/X
The Meru MCA behind the impeachment motion against Governor Kawira Mwangaza has told senators there was an attempt to burn the county assembly on the day the motion was tabled for debate.
Zipporah Kinya said some events preceded the debate on August 8, 2024, “one of them notably the attempted wrenching of the county assembly while the members were inside.”
“Hon Speaker and Hon members, there was an attempt to wrench or to burn the County Assembly of Meru at around 3 am,” she said.
The deputy majority leader was being cross-examined by the assembly’s lead counsel Ndegwa Njiru during the hearing of the impeachment charges against Mwangaza by the Senate on Monday.
She said the county assembly building was saved from the attempted torching through the intervention of the sergeants.
“Also there were a lot of security personnel that was deployed during the night and even the previous night around the assembly. The security personnel also assisted much in putting out the fire,” she explained.
Kinya said several young men were arrested and charged with the attempted burning of the House.
The deputy majority leader listed three grounds upon which she wants Governor Mwangaza sent packing.
These are gross violations of the Constitution and other laws, gross misconduct and abuse of office.
On the day of the debate of the ouster motion, 49 out of 69 MCAs present in the House voted to support Mwangaza’s ouster.
Mwangaza denied all the charges.
Her legal team led by Elisha Ongoya termed the charges “a manifesto of lies” and asked the Senate to dismiss the impeachment motion in toto.
This is the third time Mwangaza is facing an impeachment hearing before the Senate.
The first impeachment hearing was heard and determined by a committee but the second and the third went the plenary way.
The use of manual payroll to pay personnel emoluments and employing a bloated workforce are among the charges she faces under count three on abuse of office.
Under the first count of gross violation of the constitution and other laws, Mwangaza is accused of, among other things, failing to appoint the chairpersons of the Meru County Revenue Board, Meru Microfinance Corporation, Meru Youth Service Board and Meru County Investment and Development Corporation Board.
On the second count of gross misconduct, Mwangaza is accused of “deliberately and knowingly misleading the public by giving false information that Sh86 million had been raised after the murder of Daniel Muthiani alias Sniper while the correct position is that only Sh286,516 was raised”.