Speaker Teddy Mwambire from the Kilifi County Assembly might be removed from his position because he is accused of serious misbehaviour and not doing his job properly, according to the constitution.
Tezo Ward MCA Thomas Chengo has put forward a request to the assembly to remove Mwambire. Critics claim that the MCA is being played by the current governor, Gideon Maitha Mung’aro.
He says that Mwambire has broken many important laws, including the Political Parties Act, the Leadership and Integrity Act, the County Governments Act, the Public Finance Management Act, and the rules of the County Assembly.
Chengo claims that Mwambire has not stayed neutral in his role as speaker.
He participated in elections for the ODM party in Ganze Sub-county, where he tried to become the chairman but was unsuccessful and is now appealing that result. Chengo believes this shows that Mwambire is not being fair as a speaker.
Chengo said, “The speaker has interfered with the budget process and has not followed fair procedures.” He asked the assembly to vote to remove Mwambire for breaking the Constitution, relevant laws, and the assembly’s rules.
Chengo also said Mwambire is not competent in his job, mentioning that he misapplied the assembly rules and interfered with the work of the assembly committees.
Chengo brought a list of 32 members in support of his motion, which meets the requirement of at least one-third of the members needed to start the process for removing a speaker.
However, there’s a new development because the ODM party leaders have stepped in.
In a letter to all ODM members in the Kilifi County Assembly, ODM Executive Director Oduor Ong’wen instructed members not to take part in the impeachment until the party makes a formal decision.
Ong’wen said, “The party is aware of the planned motion to remove the Speaker. This is happening even though we recently sent a group to investigate the issues that the motion is based on.”
He added that this group’s report is still being reviewed by party leaders. Ong’wen warned that going ahead with the motion would disrupt the party’s internal processes and could make any conclusions meaningless before the leadership has a chance to address the problems.
The PAA Party claims that it will not rest until its MCA Tom Chengo drops this impeachment motion. According to sources within the Senate, Speaker Amason Kingi’s party, the Tezo people, need to prepare for a by-election.
The PAA stakeholders claim that the impeachment motion serves no interest to the party but to the MCA and his masters. It is alleged that MCA Hon. Chengo is being used by Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung’aro to oust the current speaker. However, the reasons behind Teddy Mwambire and Governor Gideon Mung’aro’s fallout are still under wraps.
The PAA party claimed to be focused and will not be used for silly political wars. PAA Party says that he will not only be de-whipped from the minority leader role but also deregistered from the party.
Once the Ad Hoc Committee is formed, Hon. Teddy might not be sitting in the Chambers until order numbers 6, 8 and 9 are exhausted. The deputy speaker (Hon. Naftali of Ruruma Ward) will take over. Teddy will appear in the Chambers as a defendant, accompanied by his lawyers.
