Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza to face new impeachment motion over alleged misconduct

Zipporah Kinya, a Nominated Member and Deputy Leader of the Majority Party is expected to move a motion to impeach Governor Mwangaza on grounds of gross violations of the Constitution, various national and county laws, and abuse of office. 

The notice of motion by Ms Kinya lists numerous specific allegations against the Governor, such as illegal appointments and dismissals, financial misconduct, and misleading the public.

Notably, the Governor is accused of revoking the appointment of CPA Virginia Kawira Miriti as Secretary/CEO of the Meru County Public Service Board without proper authorization and in contravention of the law.

Additionally, the Governor is alleged to have failed to appoint or illegally appointed chairpersons for several county boards without the required vetting and approval by the County Assembly.

The document seen by Citizen Digital further details accusations of financial misconduct, including the irregular payment of emergency call allowances to doctors, leading to an excessive payment of Ksh.74.3 million and the use of a manual payroll system to pay personnel emoluments amounting to Ksh.102.94 million. 

The motion also highlights the Governor's role in employing a bloated workforce, significantly increasing the county's wage bill beyond legal limits.

This will be the third time first-time Governor Kawira Mwangaza is facing a bid to eject her from office.

In November last year, she survived the second bid to impeach her after a majority of the 47 Senators failed to uphold any of the seven charges cited against her by the County Assembly of Meru that voted unanimously to eject her from office.

Governor Mwangaza was at the time accused of misappropriating county resources, nepotism and unethical practices, bullying and vilifying other leaders, usurping her statutory powers, contempt of court, illegally naming a public road after her husband and contempt of the Meru County Assembly. 

She was first impeached by the Assembly in December 2022 but an 11-member Senate Special Committee appointed to probe the grounds for her impeachment submitted a report stating that none of the charges levelled against her was proven.