Senate Speaker Amason Kingi has officially ratified the impeachment of Governor Kawira Mwangaza in a Gazette Notice.
This now confirms her removal from office.
Kingi’s decision follows the move by senators to uphold the decision of the Meru County Assembly to impeach her through a majority vote Tuesday night.
The notice dated August 20, however, comes in the wake of a reprieve she got from the High Court suspending her removal until the matter is heard and determined.
According to the Speaker, Mwangaza was removed on three grounds of gross violation of the constitution and other laws, gross misconduct, and abuse of office.
“It is notified for the information of the general public that pursuant to Article 181 of the Constitution, section 33 of the County Governments Act (Cap. 265) and Standing Order 80 of the Senate Standing Orders, on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, the Senate resolved to remove from office, by impeachment, Hon. Kawira Mwangaza,” the notice reads in part.
In her ruling, Justice Bahati Mwamuye restrained the Senate speaker from publishing in the Kenya Gazette notice a declaration of a vacancy in the office of the Governor of Meru.
“I am satisfied that the application raises constitutional, legal, and factual issues that meet the threshold that warrants immediate intervention by this court by way of issuing ex parte interim orders,” said the judge.
The judge issued the orders after Kawira, through advocate Elias Mutuma argued that the Senate allowed the reintroduction of the same charges as those that the Senate had found to have been unconfirmed in the previous motion of 2023 without interrogating the evidence.
She explained to the court that those issues which the Senate voted on are matters that are still pending determination in court following the first impeachment motion last year.
“There has been an urgency to remove me from the office and install another person, which may be done hurriedly to frustrate me. That’s why this application should be heard urgently,” she said.
During the impeachment hearing, at least 26 senators voted to uphold the first charge of gross violation of the Constitution and other laws.
Some 14 senators abstained, while four voted in her favour.
On the second charge of gross misconduct, 26 senators voted in favour of her impeachment, two against, while 14 others abstained.
Some 27 senators upheld the charge of abuse of office, one voted against it, and 14 abstained.
Most of those who abstained are allied with the opposition parties.
This was Mwangaza’s third impeachment to reach the Senate since she was elected into office in August 2022.
The first impeachment hearing was heard and determined by a committee, but the second and third went the plenary way.
The trial started on Monday, where lawyers representing her and the County Assembly faced off.
Mwangaza was accorded an opportunity to present her case before the House.
