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Mohamed Abdi Mohamud has lost his seat as Wajir
County Governor after the special Senate Committee found him guilty of gross
misconduct and abuse of the Office.
On Monday, May 17, 2020, a majority of 25 Senators out of 47 had upheld the impeachment of the Governor by the County Assembly over alleged gross violation of the Constitution. However, two Senators had opposed the impeachment while four abstained.
The 11-member Special Senate Committee led by Nyamira Senator Okong’o found the Wajir County Boss guilty of the offences and has recommended for his impeachment.
In their report, the Special Senate Committee recommended the
Wajir Governor’s impeachment after substantiating one of the 17 allegations
leveled against the governor specifically that the governor violated the right
to health of the people of Wajir County which meets the threshold for his
ouster.
The Wajir County Assembly alleged that the governor “had caused the health sector to run into disarray that had compromised right to the highest attainable health standards; and also that, “over Ksh.2.4 billion had been allocated to the department of medical service but the county referral hospital lab could not conduct COVID-19 tests due to faulty test kits and lack of reagents.”
The governor however, dismissed the claims stating that the allegations leveled against him do not meet the threshold of impeachment.
“The main impeachment is said to be gross violation of the
constitution by not providing adequate health facilities…according to me…, we
have provided enough…I could be impeached for violation of the constitution but
it cannot be for gross misconduct,” Governor Abdi stated.
Through his
lawyer Ndegwa Wahome, the Governor told the Senators to be considerate and
treat his case similar to that of Governor Ann Waiguru in which she was allegedly
spared from impeachment over heathcare issues that were raised in her County.
“If the
senate declined to impeach Governor Waiguru for failure in delivering the
health function in Kirinyaga yet health workers testified against her, it
should surely also decline to impeach the governor for a similar charge where
only MCAs testified,” Wahome said.
The Wajir Governor becomes the 9th county boss to face impeachment after some of his colleagues including; former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and his Kiambu counterpart Ferdinand Waititu were removed from office for gross misconduct.
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