“If a vacancy occurs in the office of county governor, the deputy county governor shall assume office as county governor for the remainder of the term of the county governor,”
Meru county governor Kawira Mwangaza is facing possible impeachment after an ouster motion was filed against her; the impeachment motion is backed by signatures from 68 out of 69 MCAs. The embattled governor is accused of gross violation of the constitution, flagrant disregard for several national and county laws, abuse of office and gross misconduct.
Chapter eleven of the Kenyan Constitution stipulates that a county governor may be removed from office on grounds of gross violation of the Constitution or any other law; where there are serious reasons for believing that the governor has committed a crime under national or international law; abuse of office or gross misconduct; or physical or mental incapacity to perform the functions of the office of county governor.
If the county MCA’s manage to pass the impeachment motion against Governor Kawira Mwangaza, consequently Meru County deputy governor Reverend Isaac M’Ethingiawill take the oath of office and be sworn in as the new Meru governor. “If a vacancy occurs in the office of county governor, the deputy county governor shall assume office as county governor for the remainder of the term of the county governor,” the constitution states. Governor Kawira Mwangaza floored a political heavy in former governor Kiraitu Murungi and former Senator Mithika Linturi in one of the biggest electoral shocks in the country to gain the position of governor during the August 9th polls.
Initially, most people believed Mwangaza would finish a distant third, but shockingly, she defeated the two seasoned politicians with a landslide of votes. Mwangaza, who ran as an independent, garnered a total of 209,148 votes, surpassing both Mithika Linturi of the United Democratic Alliance who was later appointed into the cabinet and Kiraitu Murungi of the Mbus party, who came in last with 110, 814 votes.
Complete mayhem first broke out after the MCAs walked out on governor Mwangaza during what was supposed to be the Assembly’s first inaugural address compelling police officers to lob teargas canisters to disperse the rowdy MCAs who were throwing stones at each other after the governor supposedly entered the assembly against House procedure.
