Police were deployed on Tuesday morning to cordon off the Nyamira County Assembly as MCA’s converged to discuss an impeachment motion against Governor Amos Nyaribo.
This is after unknown people blocked the assembly’s entrance with stones and raw sewage last night in order to disrupt the proceedings.
The embattled governor who is not seeing eye to eye with MCA’s of his own United Progressive Alliance (UPA) party where he is the leader has been accused of misappropriation of county funds and unaccountability.
Twenty Eight out of the 34 members of the Assembly have signed a petition to send the governor home.
The move to impeach Governor Nyaribo follows the controversy surrounding his dismissal of County Health Minister Timothy Ombati.
The MCAs have criticized the governor’s decision, describing it as irregular.
Governor Nyaribo, however, defended his actions, alleging that Ombati was removed from his position due to corruption allegations.
According to the governor, Ombati had misappropriated Ksh22 million intended for the purchase of drugs for multiple hospitals in the county.
The MCAs, led by Deputy Speaker Thaddeus Nyabaro and Deputy Majority Leader Duke Masira, disagreed with the governor’s explanation. They argued that Ombati was a victim of clan-based persecution and should not be held responsible for the mismanaged funds.
Instead, they pointed fingers at the chief officer, who serves as the health ministry’s accounting officer.
Timothy Ombati, in response to his termination, enlisted the services of lawyer Danstan Omari to file a lawsuit against the governor, alleging unlawful dismissal.
Ombati claimed that he was not granted a fair opportunity to defend himself and was terminated without proper explanation. In his court papers, he also emphasized that the primary reason for his termination was allegedly causing embarrassment to the governor, which, according to him, is not a valid justification for summary dismissal under the County Government Act.
