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Why Kiambu governor is under siege

By Simon Ciuri September 21st, 2020 2 min read

During his swearing in ceremony on January 31, Governor James Nyoro was a jolly man.

He was taking over the mantle from his former boss, Mr Ferdinand Waititu, who was deposed following graft allegations.

MCAs who played a key role in ensuring Mr Waititu’s impeachment broke into song and dance, pledging their allegiance to Mr Nyoro.

Today, time and tide have turned against the governor who now claims that his former supporters are the same people, who now want him out.

“They want to arm-twist me into awarding them tenders through their proxies,” Mr Nyoro told the Nation, accusing Ndenderu MCA Solomon Kinuthia, who sponsored the motion to have Mr Waititu kicked out of office, of leading the push to have him impeached.

The simmering row between Mr Kinuthia and Mr Nyoro came to a head last Friday when the governor invited MCAs for an evening meeting at Sahara West Park in Ruaka.

The meeting was attended by more than 45 ward reps. The meeting ended prematurely after Mr Kinuthia abused him, the governor said.

DISRESPECTFUL

“He used nasty and disrespectful words against me. The other MCAs had no issues with me,” Mr Nyoro said.

On Sunday, Mr Kinuthia accused the governor of being high-handed and inaccessible.

He said Mr Nyoro had failed to come clean on audit queries touching on county expenditure.

He said: “It’s true that we exchanged bitter words with the governor, but the dispute is about his inability to account for the Sh185 million conditional grant that the county received from the national government to combat Covid-19. He has also not responded to our queries on how the Sh172 million set aside by the assembly budget committee to fight Covid-19 has been spent.”

Mr Nyoro dismissed the allegations, saying, the Auditor-General’s office was conducting an audit on the funds and would table the finding next week.

The governor said he knew that an impeachment motion against him was being mooted.

“I’ve managed to see the document even before it is tabled. In part, it questions my mental fitness to lead,” Mr Nyoro said.