Dissolve Meru County
Meru County Assembly during a past debate.
The unfolding drama in Meru County—where Governor Kawira Mwangaza has been impeached twice but was saved from ouster by the Senate both times—is not only disturbing but a pointer to why vital services may not be properly delivered in the prevailing situation.
The relationship between the executive and the assembly has irretrievably broken down. Ms Mwangaza’s administration has become dysfunctional. Trust, necessary in the management of public affairs and service delivery, is no longer present.
Mwangaza may have been saved by a sympathy vote; being a woman, the gender card could have worked for her. Or the MCAs were unjustly going for the jugular? Either way, the biggest loser is the Meru voter. Either way, the biggest loser is the Meru voter. Mistrust has already set in. We are four years to the next general election.
Mistrust has already set in. The governor and her deputy are not on speaking terms. A county assembly that is hostile to the governor will only see the residents lose out entirely. Town Hall can no longer discharge its constitutional mandate.
Not even the Senate’s saving of Gov Kawira again can save the situation in Meru. We saw it in Nairobi, during the reign of Gov Mike Sonko, and in Kiambu when Ferdinand Waititu was at Town Hall. Sobriety in service delivery resumed when these assemblies got their way through the Senate. Then-Embu Gov Martin Wambora’s almost daily appearances in the courts make for good reading.
We are four years to the next general election. The Senate, accused of being influenced by external forces, can no longer be trusted to be Solomonic on the matter. It would be prudent for the President to intervene on behalf of the people of Meru and dissolve the county—as petitioned by a resident.
The Meru case tests Chapter Six of the Constitution, on integrity. Mwangaza could be, probably ignorantly, in a house of cards that has partially been blown away by the wind. As Prof George Saitoti famously said, there comes a time when the country is more important than the individual.
Mr Kigo is an environmentalist. [email protected].
