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{
"id": 1465112,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465112/?format=api",
"text_counter": 145,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Elisha Ongoya",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, on 8th November, 2023, I had the privilege of appearing before the Senate and addressing this House on a Motion for removal from office of Governor Kawira Mwangaza. That was the third attempt that had been made to remove Her Excellency, Hon. Kawira Mwangaza, from office by impeachment. It was, however, the second time that attempt was reaching this House. As I stand here today, this is the fifth attempt to remove Hon. Governor Kawira Mwangaza from office, although it is the third time for those attempts to reach this House. Mr. Speaker, Sir, and distinguished Senators, it means that between the time we came here and today, two attempts have been made to remove this Governor from office, between 8th November, 2023, and today. That determination on the part of the County Assembly either smirks of extreme commitment to salvage Meru County from some funny evil or extreme malice. I submit respectfully that I doubt that there can be any middle ground. In my oration before this House on 8th November year, I said, and I quote- “It matters not whether she shall be brought here 100 times. You cannot victimise her because those who torment her are tireless in their torments against her.” I retrieved these words from the HANSARD of this House. Let me take a step back and ask: why did I include these words in my oration? I said those words because while we were before this debating that Motion, the Mover of the present Motion sounded a warning to this House. We did not have an opportunity then to adduce that evidence because we had already finished our filings. We have an opportunity now to adduce this evidence. She said, and I quote- “I want to urge our Senate, if they reinstate Kawira Mwangaza, they should know we have six more times to impeach her.” When we were here debating the last Motion, they did not need any new grounds. They were sounding a warning to this House that if you release her, they shall come back here six times. If you reinstate her, they will impeach her until the sixth time, so that they tell the people of Meru County that they did their best. That is to mean that they tried to impeach but the Senate reinstated her. At an appropriate time, not now, we shall play for you Clip VKM1, where you will hear those words verbatim. It means we are here today as a matter of statistical count on the part of Hon. Zipporah Kinya. She has five more times to go. The question is, hon. Senators and with due respect, what can you do as a House tasked to protect devolution to stop this plainly nefarious use of the impeachment power? Let me pose the critical question on the mind of everybody, including mine. What is ailing Meru County? Mr. Speaker, Sir, and distinguished Senators, I make an argument that this question will attract both negative and positive answers. The negative answer is useful for the determination of the matters before you, while the positive answer is useful for a long-term engagement with Meru County. The negative answer is this- The problem with Meru County is not Her Excellency Hon. Kawira Mwangaza. With humility, let me repeat in clear, unambiguous and unequivocal terms. Nothing in the acts or omissions on the part of Hon. Kawira Mwangaza warrants her removal from office by way of impeachment, at least as far as that principle is established by law. Let me try to deal with the positive answer. To help us supply a positive answer to this question, we have lined up Hon. Evans Mawira Kaaria, a witness for the Governor in these proceedings. Hon. Evans Mawira is significant to these proceedings in four significant ways- The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1465113,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465113/?format=api",
"text_counter": 146,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Elisha Ongoya",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(i) He is a two-time elected Member of County Assembly (MCA) in Meru County Assembly, carrying with him a measure of institutional memory. (ii) He is the immediate former Leader of Majority in the County Assembly of Meru, therefore exposed to the workings of that Assembly to a fairly high level. (iii) He was the Mover of the Impeachment Motion against the Governor that engaged us here in November, 2023. Therefore, he is best placed to explain to us the undertones and intricacies in those proceedings. (iv) He will give us a detailed account on how these Impeachment Motions are conceptualized and what is the thinking behind them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, distinguished Senators, at this juncture I can do no better than to take refuge in the voice of one of Africa's perhaps best literary experts, Chinua Achebe, whose voice continues to address us as follows- “If the alligator were to come from the water and tell us Mr. Crocodile is sick, who are we to doubt him?” Mr. Evans Mawira Kaaria will play that role today. Mr. Speaker, Sir, allow me to derive some lessons from the teachings of an American jurist by the name Robert Jackson. He is a jurist worth listening to or reading from for three reasons- First, he served as the Federal Attorney General of the United States of America. Secondly, he served as the prosecutor at Nuremberg; and thirdly, he served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of America. No other jurist in America's or world history has met this combination of influential portfolios in his lifetime this far. On 1st April, 1940, at 10.00 a.m., Mr. Robert Jackson delivered a speech to the Second Annual Conference of the United States Attorneys, and he was reflecting on the power of prosecutors. I would juxtapose that with the power of impeachers. He observed- “The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous. While the prosecutor at his best is one of the most beneficent forces in our society, when he acts from malice or other base motives, he is one of the worst. If the prosecutor is obliged to choose his cases, it follows that he can choose his defendants and therein lies the most dangerous power of the prosecutor, that he will pick people that he thinks he should, rather than cases that need to be prosecuted. In such a case, it is not a question of discovering the commission of a crime and then looking for the man who has committed it. It is a question of picking the man, then searching the law books, and putting investigators to work to pin some offense on him. It is in this realm in which the prosecutor picks some person whom he dislikes or desires to embarrass, or selects some group of unpopular persons, and then looks for an offense, that the greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power lies. It is here that law enforcement becomes personal, and the real crime becomes being unpopular with the predominant or governing group.” Distinguished Senators, I want to make it unequivocal here. The County Assembly of Meru has not discovered wrongs against Governor Kawira Mwangaza. It has discovered Hon. Kawira Mwangaza first, and has put anything and everything at play to say “what allegation we can we make against her to possibly embarrass her.” Allow me to make some general comments on the Impeachment Motion before you, conscious of the language of this House, but again mindful to speak the truth in its most manifest form. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1465114,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465114/?format=api",
"text_counter": 147,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Elisha Ongoya",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "I repeat, distinguished Senators, Vol.1 of the document in front of you from the County Assembly, which essentially is the Impeachment Motion, is simply and squarely a manifesto of lies. This language is actually strong, and I begin by conceding that, and it requires justification. Let me therefore proceed to justify by making a promissory note. I promise you that at the tail end of this hearing, you will have discovered the following- First, when you will retire to consider count one, paragraph four of the Impeachment Motion before you, it will read- “Illegally dismissing Dr. Ntoiti, CEO, County Revenue Board; Mr. Paul Mwaki, CEO of Liquor Board; Mr. Kenneth Kimathi Mbae, Managing Director of Meru Finance Corporation; and, Mr. Joseph Kithure Mberia, CEO MWAS, in the usurpation of the powers of the appointing authorities.” When you look at the Motion you dispensed with last November, count No. four, you will see paragraph 16(b) it will be the same about sending persons on indefinite compulsory leave. You are re-debating the same matter you debated and voted on here in all its substantive content. Secondly, when you look at Count three, paragraph three of the Motion before you, you will find a charge of allegation of employing a bloated workforce of at least 111 personal staff in the Governor's Office. Good people, Count four, paragraph G of the last Impeachment Motion read- “Employing a bloated workforce, more than 100 personal staff in the office of the Governor. In Kiswahili, they say, “Ukistaajabu ya Musa utayaona ya Firauni.” You will be surprised that the documentary evidence, the piece of paper that was used to support count four, paragraph G of the last Impeachment Motion, is the same piece of paper with the same names in the same order that has been attached to the Motion before you. That thing that you voted and said has not been proved. I think the County Assembly is trying to embarrass this Senate so that if you vote to the contrary, there will now be in the blogosphere saying how inconsistent you are in your decision making. Evidence will show that any attempt by the County Public Service Board (CPSB) of Meru to add any staff in the Governor's Office since November, the Governor has responded by declining those staff and saying- “You employ staff and send them here, and then you will take me to Senate.” You will see those letters of the Governor rejecting any staff. There is no additional staff with the Governor's approval in her office since we left here. The words used by the Governor in her rejection letter are that “you are sending here this staff to create grounds for my impeachment.” Allow me to then give you a promissory note on what my colleague, Mr. Mutuma, addressed here. You will come across the following claims at the end of this impeachment exercise that are factually false- (a) Ground one, paragraph 3a; you will be told the Governor failed to implement the recommendations of the County Assembly requiring the governor to dismiss the County Secretary, Dr. Kiambi Atheru, and the Chief of Staff, Mr. Harrison Gitobu Nchamba. (b) That the Governor ignored or failed to submit a report to the County Assembly on the implementation of the recommendations within 60 days. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1465115,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465115/?format=api",
"text_counter": 148,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Elisha Ongoya",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Distinguished Senators, you will go through all the six volumes that the County Assembly has brought before you and will not see any HANSARD or any resolution of the County Assembly to any of these two facts. Secondly, you will not see any letter by the Clerk or other official of Meru County Assembly transmitting a resolution of this nature from the Meru County Assembly. Distinguished Senators, how else can you describe this than a lie? Can there be another word in the dictionary of Englishmen and women that can describe this if not a lie? Ground No.1, paragraph four, illegally dismissing Dr. Ntoiti. By the way Senators, before I forget, Dr. Ntoiti is an employee of the County Government of Nairobi as we speak today and not Meru. He has been so since 2007. This is something that is going to emerge from these proceedings. Dr. Ntoiti, Paul Mwaki, Kenneth Kimathi, and Joseph Kithure Mberia, have never been dismissed from service. You will see from evidence, these were people on fixed term contracts, some of whom their contracts came to an end. Others among them discovered they had maneuvered and gotten their way to two Governments and they ran away by themselves. One of them is Dr. Ntoiti from the County Government of Nairobi. We will show you the correspondence from the County Government of Nairobi revealing this fact. Therefore, how else can you describe this? You will see that the Governor has not dismissed any of them as a matter of fact. Ground No.2, paragraph six, you will be told or you are told that the Governor deliberately and knowingly misled the public that “Kshs86 million” had been raised through Pay Bill No.247247, Account No.0400163917899. There will be no documentary, video or witness evidence showing that the Governor has ever mentioned this pay bill number or account number anywhere. It is a fact, we will prove by evidence. The leaders who have waged war against the Governor have collected money across multiple pay bill numbers such as the M-pesa platforms and cash accounts that have not been presented to this Senate. It is our submission, if the County Assembly has decided to make the money collected in relation to the unfortunate death of ‘Sniper’ an issue in this Senate, they must make a full and candid disclosure of how much money was collected across all these platforms. Ground No.3, paragraph eight, irregular payment of emergency call allowances to 161 medical doctors, using the wrong rates – As a matter of fact, the Governor is neither a salary processing nor a salary paying officer in the County Government of Meru. Nonetheless, two and more importantly, substantively, the emergency call allowance complained of here is expressly contained in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiated between the national Government, the Ministry of Health, and the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists Dentists Union (KMPDU). The instructions were cascaded down from the Principal Secretary to the Council of Governors (CoG) and to all counties. No cent has been paid outside the figure set out in that CBA. Let me use the brief time I have here because the public is also listening to us, to make it clear to the doctors in Meru, that the County Government of Meru complied, hard-fought and negotiated the CBA. We all know in the public domain, some officials of KMPDU went to jail for some days in the course of these 2017 negotiations. However, the implementation is landing the Governor in problems. Ground No.3, paragraph nine, use of a manual payroll to pay personnel emoluments - The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1465116,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465116/?format=api",
"text_counter": 149,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Elisha Ongoya",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(1) This is something we find very paradoxical. As at 25th June, 2024, the County Assembly of Meru had raised this question with the County Executive on whether there is a manual payroll. The County Executive had answered satisfactorily that there was no longer use of a manual payroll in the County Government of Meru. (2) The same audit report that the County Assembly will give you showing that there may have been use of manual payroll previously, will show use of manual payroll in the county itself as well in the same financial year. We are not here to equal terms. We are making a simple case that the procedure of processing the Integrated Payroll Personnel Database (IPPD) numbers takes time. Therefore, the employees who are in the meantime accommodated on the manual payrolls are there for the limited purpose when we are waiting for the Directorate of Personnel Management (DPM) in the Ministry of Public Service and Human Capital Development to generate IPPD numbers. Mr. Speaker, Sir, these are nursery school teachers whom we cannot keep for eight months as they wait for their IPPD numbers before they begin earning. There is no allegation of loss of any coin in these circumstances. I have addressed the issue of the alleged bloated workforce in the Governor's office, but they have said there are 111 personal staff in the Governor's office. As a matter of fact, we do not have 111 personal staff in the Governor's office. It is simply not true. On the allegation that one Kiambi Chrispus Manyara was paid- (1) The Governor is not the head of the County Public Service involved in interdiction or suspension of staff. (2) The Governor does not process or pay any staff of the county government. The allegation therefore that this Governor has paid Kiambi Chrispus Manyara is false. Mr. Speaker, Sir, and the distinguished Senators, I have spent my two minutes to address certain overall--- Mr. Speaker, Sir, may I just have one minute to summarize up something? I did not know my time was up. I thought it was two minutes. We have said before and we reiterate that the County Assembly of Meru brings here the Governor because it lacks respect for this oversight institution. If the team upstairs has access to video number VKM18---"
},
{
"id": 1465117,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465117/?format=api",
"text_counter": 150,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Kingi",
"speaker_title": "The Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Counsel for the Governor, your time is up."
},
{
"id": 1465118,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465118/?format=api",
"text_counter": 151,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Elisha Ongoya",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "My apologies."
},
{
"id": 1465119,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465119/?format=api",
"text_counter": 152,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Kingi",
"speaker_title": "The Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " I will give you one more minute."
},
{
"id": 1465120,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465120/?format=api",
"text_counter": 153,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Elisha Ongoya",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you so much. So, may I just ask the team upstairs to run for me video VKM18 at minute 1.18 to 1.17 strictly in the interest of time?"
},
{
"id": 1465121,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1465121/?format=api",
"text_counter": 154,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(A video clip was played)"
}
]
}