{"id":695203,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/695203/?format=json","text_counter":1334,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wangari","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13123,"legal_name":"Martha Wangari","slug":"martha-wangari"},"content":"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I want to, first of all, congratulate the House for sitting through these proceedings. This is one in history. It is one that we are setting precedence and the first case that we have had in plenary. When we speak of devolution and audit devolution we expect that it should be able to transform lives. We have said this even in the previous impeachment Motions for other counties that this must be seen to be done. Are there issues in Nyeri? Definitely there are there. Is Nyeri County running smoothly the way it should be? Of course, not! These issues have been demonstrated not just here, they are even in the public domain, not just with this Motion, but even before. We have seen the issues in running of the County Assembly and the County Executive. These issues have actually been a contributor to where we are today. When the High court pronounced itself on the issue of Governor Wambora on the threshold of impeachment, one thing I read from that ruling was that the “gross” must actually vary from each case to case. It is not a universal measure in every county. When I look at these three charges, one I agree with the Counsel for the Governor. However, in their defense, they do not see Article 181 of the Constitution talk about failure to comply with the law. Personally, I feel Charge B does not even need to move beyond that point. Secondly, on the issue of natural justice and the rules of natural justice, I am not convinced why the county assembly did not admit the Counsel for the governor to be heard. The defence and reaction we got from the county assembly lawyers was that they did not get a written response from the governor. Since the governor had been accused, it was not really for him to write a letter. It was for him to either be present in person or represented by his Counsel. The same case should have happened here. Had the governor chosen not to come and sent his lawyers, we would still have listened. That said and done, this impeachment was void abinitio. It was faulty from the beginning. I am not convinced that it should warrant impeachment; the threshold has not been met. However, allow me to talk about a few issues. One that is very close to my heart is the issue of gender balance. Although the governor talked about having one lady who was very ‘soft’, I want to confirm that Nyeri women have been known in the public domain to be very tough."}