The deepening political rift in Homa Bay County has exploded into open warfare after Deputy Governor Hamilton Orata Magwanga issued a stunning Homa Bay impeachment threat, declaring on Thursday that if Governor Gladys Wanga succeeds in removing him from office, he will immediately trigger her own impeachment in retaliation.
Speaking at a charged public rally in Ndhiwa Constituency, Magwanga told a cheering crowd, “They want to impeach me; if she fails, I will impeach her,” sending shockwaves through the county’s political circles and setting the stage for what observers now fear could be the most chaotic leadership battle in the lakeside region since devolution began.
The Homa Bay impeachment threat stems from weeks of escalating tension between the two top county officials, both elected on an ODM ticket in 2022 but now barely on speaking terms.
Inside the county headquarters, sources report that last month, Governor Wanga allegedly sidelined Magwanga from key development tours and stripped his office of several functions, including oversight of the crucial climate change docket. Magwanga retaliated by boycotting official functions and openly accusing the governor of running a “one-woman show” that has stalled projects in his Ndhiwa backyard.
On Thursday afternoon, flanked by a dozen MCAs loyal to him, Magwanga laid out his battle plan. “I have the signatures,” he claimed, waving a folder said to contain the names of 28 ward representatives ready to table a motion against Wanga the moment any impeachment notice against him is gazetted.
“Let her try. The same Assembly that will sit to judge me will sit again the following week to judge her. We are ready.” Under the County Governments Act, removing a deputy governor requires a two-thirds majority in the 40-member Assembly, the same threshold needed to oust a governor.
Governor Wanga’s camp dismissed the threats as empty bravado. Her press secretary, Maurice K’Okoth, told journalists outside Afya House in Homa Bay town that the administration remains focused on service delivery. “The deputy governor has neglected his duties for months,” K’Okoth said.
“If he wants to turn county politics into a circus, the people of Homa Bay will decide who serves them and who distracts them.” Insiders, however, confirm that Magwanga’s allies have already drafted grounds for Magwanga’s removal, citing gross misconduct, abuse of office, and failure to attend executive committee meetings since August.
The timing could not be worse for Homa Bay. The county is racing to absorb over 1.2 billion shillings in conditional grants for health and agriculture before the financial year closes, while residents in flood-prone areas around Lambwe Valley await emergency supplies.
Yet county vehicles have been grounded for days as the two leaders reportedly refuse to sign joint fuel requisitions, and several senior officers have been sent on compulsory leave amid loyalty tests.
ODM party leaders in Nairobi are said to be in frantic back-channel talks to broker peace, with fears that the Homa Bay impeachment threat could fracture the party’s iron grip on the region ahead of 2027.
As Friday dawned, the county headquarters wore the tense atmosphere of a town waiting for a storm. MCAs huddled in small groups at hotels along the Homa Bay-Kendu Bay road, counting numbers and trading rumours.
One ward rep, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted the Assembly is now evenly split: “Twenty for her, twenty for him. Whoever brings tea and a better story next week wins.”
For ordinary residents, the drama has turned from entertainment to exasperation. “We voted for development, not reality TV,” said Benter Aoko, a fish trader at Homa Bay pier. “Let them fight in court or in church, but give us our roads and medicine.”
With both leaders digging in and impeachment papers reportedly already typed on both sides, Homa Bay stands on the brink of a political meltdown that could paralyse the county for months. As Magwanga warned his supporters to “stay ready”, one thing is clear: the next Assembly sitting, whenever it is called, will decide far more than the fate of two politicians.
