'It makes me break': Linturi gets emotional at impeachment hearing

Nearly breaking down in tears, Linturi insisted before the committee that the push to remove him from office through impeachment was a personal vendetta emanating from the bitter fall-out with his ex-wife, Marianne Kitany who is currently the Member of Parliament for Aldai Constituency.

He maintained that the court cases referenced in the impeachment motion to support the grounds for his removal from office were choreographed.

"All these cases revolve around parties or an individual that unfortunately we were friends but for whatever reason, that may not be very material to these proceedings... That relationship could not hold and out of her own volition decided to bring so many cases which I had to defend."

"And out of the few selected cases here, there is none that I lost. It has been a very painful experience. When I start thinking about it makes me break," Linturi went on, with his voice quivering with emotion.

Linturi's legal representative, Muthomi Thiankulu, intervened at this point, urging him to draw strength from his Meru heritage.

"A Meru man is not allowed to break in public Hon. Linturi. Just tell the committee the tribulations you have undergone because of this personal dispute. Can you please shed more light on those tribulations? Who was the author of these tribulations, how long did they last and what format did they take?" Thiankulu guided Linturi.

Summoning his resolve, Linturi recounted to the committee that many of the cases referenced in the impeachment petition were politically motivated and had been largely dismissed by the courts.

He maintained that his adversaries orchestrated the cases during the run-up to the last election.

"All sorts of tricks were used to coerce me not to believe in the candidature of the person I was supporting. And because it was at the beginning of most of these cases, that administration decided to take advantage of that situation and latched on the cases and I became a victim of serious persecution," he said. "I have been tried in the media forever. I was painted as a person... even a rape case, there was a choreographer," added Linturi.

He is facing removal from office on grounds of gross violation of the Constitution or any other law, serious reasons to believe the CS has committed a crime under national law, as well as gross misconduct.

The hearing continues.