Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen’s comments on Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru forthcoming impeachment trial at the Senate have caused an uproar, rekindling controversial decisions the senator took as Majority Leader.
Murkomen on Saturday, June 13, opined that the Senate would be rendered powerless if the government decided to protect Waiguru from impeachment.
“If the government wants to save Waiguru regardless of the facts, then she will be saved. If the government and Capitol Hill dry cleaners combine forces then the Senate will do nothing.
“A few of us will make some noise, quote the Constitution and our DC will rule us out of order and declare her Mweupe kama pamba (white as cotton),” stated Murkomen.
The comments seemed to rub a number of Kenyans the wrong way with some revisiting previous bills passed by the Senate under his watch.
“This is exactly how it felt when you passed the security amendment bill, election amendment bill and other bad bills claiming you had the numbers and could do anything. It’s now boomeranging on you! This how it feels pastor! This is how we felt back then!,” read a reply to Murkomen’s tweet.
Former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo faulted Murkomen for not fixing the rot in the Senate, noting the case of Waiguru was not the first.
“Ndugu it’s unfortunate, but let it be known that, this will not start with Anne Waiguru, it started long ago. You folks didn’t fix it, so now it’s fixing you (senate). It’s important to do the right things as opposed to doing things right,” noted Kabogo.
Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi furthered the conversation with a reference to one of Murkomen’s earlier claim that ‘Parliament was dead’, a statement he had made citing the influence of the executive on lawmakers.
“Senator are you then saying, the Senate is, BURE KABISA (very useless)?” wondered the lawyer.
The Elgeyo Marakwet Senator was also accused of previously defending leaders who were named in corruption scandals.
“Murkomen defended corrupt leaders like Sonko, Waititu, Henry Rotich and Thuo. Then fiercely defended Waiguru when Raila and the team connected her to NYS,” read a reply to Murkomen’s tweet.
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, on Thursday, June 11, had claimed that Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju was engineering a scheme to save embattled Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru from impeachment.
The MP revealed that Tuju was pushing Senate Majority Chief Whip Irungu Kang’ata to form a special committee that would favour the Kirinyaga Governor during her impeachment hearing.
