The impeachment trial of Wajir County Governor, Mohammed Abdi Mohamud entered its second day today in the Senate. The session started at 10.20 am with the second witnesses for Wajir County Assembly taking the stand for cross-examination.
Ahmed Bare, a Member of the County Assembly of Wajir testified on Wednesday but could not be cross-examined by the Governor’s lawyers due to time constraints. In his submission, Bare, who seconded the impeachment motion against the Governor in the County Assembly, alleged that the governor’s wife and children were involved in the procurement irregularities.
He further claimed that Governor Abdi has allowed his wife to ‘literally run the county affairs as the de facto authority.’
In their submissions to the Senate, MCAs detailed how the governor’s wife has allegedly been influencing tenders and receiving kickbacks. They submitted that Governor Abdi presided over an opaque administration riddled with corruption that has seen the devolved unit lose up to Ksh. 2 billion under his watch.
Governor Abdi denied all the charges, dismissing the impeachment as politically instigated with malice.
“I would like to categorically say that I will fully cooperate with the committee and help to establish the truth that charges levelled against me are unsubstantiated, unestablished and do not meet the threshold required for impeachment of a governor,” he said.
The Senate Committee chaired by Senator Okong’o Omogeni will thereafter retreat to consider the charges levelled against the governor and his responses, before writing a report.
Senator Omogeni sought to allay any fears that the committee would act contrary to the expectation and deny the parties’ justice. “We will act purely based on evidence accused before us. We want to allay any fear that the committee will act partially, because we are motivated to deliver justice to all the parties when considering the matter. Justice must be seen just be seen to be done, but done,” he said.
The committee will then ask Speaker Ken Lusaka to call for a Special sitting on May 17th, 2021 to table the report on whether the charges have been substantiated or not as per Section 33 of the County Government Act. It is during that special sitting that the committee’s findings will be tabled and debated, paving the way for the approval or rejection of the impeachment motion against the Wajir County Governor.
