Senate committee recommends impeachment of Wajir Governor Mohamed Mohamud

Senate committee recommends impeachment of Wajir Governor Mohamed Mohamud

An eleven-member Senate special committee has recommended the impeachment of Wajir Governor Mohamed Mohamud after probe on fraud and abuse of office claims.

This comes after thirty-seven MCAs last month voted in favour of the impeachment motion while 10 opposed his removal from office.

The committee that was composed of Senators Okong’o Omogeni (Chairperson), Susan Kihika (Vice Chairperson), Johnson Sakaja, Mwangi Githiomi, Christine Zawadi, Mithika Linturi, Hargura Godana, Fred Outa, Agnes Muthama, Petronilla Were, and Issa Juma Boy submitted its report on Monday.

The Wajir County Assembly, which was represented by Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi, had accused the governor of, among other things, failing to account for the financial resources allocated to the county as well as failing to provide quarterly expenditure reports to the House.

Governor Mohamud, in response to this, said the Public Finance Management Act mandates an accounting officer to prepare reports for each quarter of the financial year for submission to the County Treasury which then submits it to the County Assembly within one month.

The County Assembly also accused Governor Mohamud of failing to account for the management of county resources by incurring debts and pending obligations reportedly amounting to Ksh.2 billion.

“During the hearing, Mr. Mohamed Yunis Sheikh, the Deputy Director, Budget, Wajir County stated that the allegation that there was lack of accountability in the management of county resources by incurring unsustainable debts and other obligations to the tune of Kshs. 2 billion was untrue as the alleged Kshs. 2 billion existed from the financial year 2017/18, the County Government had an unspent balance of Kshs. 2.6 billion from that financial year as seen as can be seen from the last page of the Wajir County Appropriation Act, 2018,” read the committee report.

“He further stated that the pending bill arose from the fact that the County did not receive approval for the withdrawal of funds to spend the Kshs. 2.6 billion and hence, the debt could not be classified as unsustainable as the monies existed.”

Tags:

senate impeachment Wajir County Governor Mohamed Mohamud

Want to send us a story? Submit on Wananchi Reporting on the Citizen Digital App or Send an email to wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke or Send an SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp on 0743570000

Leave a Comment

Comments

No comments yet.

latest stories