Nairobi — The only witness testifying in favour of Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza in impeachment proceedings now says that her husband Murega Baicu does not get any salary from the county coffers and does not interfere with county affairs.
The witness, Harrison Gatobu, told the Senate Special committee that the appointment of Baicu as the county's Youth Patron and Hustlers' Ambassador was just an honorary appointment to empower the youth.
"It is just an honorary office. Actually, the governor was operating another program called Okolea but because of her responsibilities as a governor she decided to have someone who has worked closely with her in that program, who would not be paid and who would continue with her vision and that is when the First Gentleman was named as the Hustler's ambassador," Gatobu said.
Gatobu, who also doubles up as the County Chief of Staff and the Governor's Private Secretary, said the position of the Youth Patron and Hustlers Ambassador is not a position under the County Public Service Board.
"I wrote a letter to the Chief Officer Legal Affairs and Public Service and to the payroll. They all responded with the attached letters and said those appointed are not employees of the County Government and they were not earning any pay from the County," he said.
In voting to impeach Mwangaza, the Meru MCAs accused her of employing her husband in the county.
They also accused him of harassing and intimidating them and other county officials.
This is among the charges leveled against Mwanganza. Others include abuse of office.
Other include incitement, bullying, vilification and misleading campaigns against other leaders.
Speaking while making introductory submissions County Lawyer Muthomi Thiankolu said Kawira is not fit to run the County as she has not only violated over 30 sections of the Constitution but is also at loggerheads with everyone she is expected to work with.
Mwangaza was impeached after 68 out 69 Members of the County Assembly voted to send her.
On Tuesday, the first witness testifying against Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza at the Senate impeachment hearings singled out her husband as the biggest problem in the county.
Abogeta County Assembly member Denis Kiogora, who sponsored the impeachment motion, said Mwangaza's husband Murega Baicu had been interfering with county affairs.
Kiogora said the appointment of Mwangaza's husband as the county's Youth Patron and Hustlers' Ambassador came with impunity.
"The husband of the governor has been meddling with County affairs especially the negative comments that he usually makes against other leaders. He starts the vilification and the governor picks up," Kiogora said.
Although Mwangaza stated that her husband was not going to benefit financially from County coffers, the Abogeta MCA told Senators that the two positions gave him so much power that he started vilifying other County leaders including the MCAs.
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"When you appoint someone in an office with other people and a big budget, you cannot claim he is not being paid. You appointed him to do something it is not just for the sake of it. The governor is the CEO of a County not a comedian," he said.
The Meru County Assembly was the first to mount Defense Tuesday when the impeachment investigations opened.
"Would it be fair for someone to argue or conclude that given all these fights with countless people, some of them not even in the County government that there is no fundamental problem with the governor in trial and the problem lies with these other people? She has just too many people she has waged fights with, the MCAs, Meru Senator, Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, and Tigania East MP. Can we fairly say that the problem lies somewhere and not with the governor?" Thiankolu posed.
