Reports that Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza has been impeached are false.
The reports were posted on Twitter by a user using the name Towy Maish, using the Twitter handle @isaackanjas.
“Governor Kawira Mwangaza impeached,” the user posted.
An investigation by Business today found the report to be untrue.
Although a Meru County resident has petitioned the County Assembly to institute impeachment proceedings against Governor Mwangaza, the motion was yet to be discussed at the time of this investigation.
The resident, Mr Thuranira Salesio Mutuma, a human rights defender, accused the governor of gross misconduct and abusé of office.
“I institute this petition the strength of the Constitution which provides that every person has an obligation to respect, uphold and defend the Constitution,” he said in the motion filed on October 27, 2022.
According to The Impeachment Procedure Act, 2018, a governor is considered impeached at the county level if the impeachment motion is voted for by at least a third of all the members of the county assembly. By the time of going to press on Monday, October 31, 2022, the Meru County Assembly members had neither discussed nor voted on the motion.
Before discussion and voting, the motion has to be examined and approved by the County Assembly Speaker within four days, according to the Act. If there is no response within seven days, the motion will be considered to have been approved.
Meru assembly clerk Jacob Kirari said the petition is being studied by the legal team to establish if it meets threshold.
“The petition has been received today. I have directed the legal team to look into it to establish if it meets the threshold for presentation for debate next week,” Mr Kirari told the Nation.
If impeached at the county level, the motion proceeds to the Senate for further deliberations before voting. During this time, the governor continues to perform his/her functions until the Senate decides the fate of the officeholder in a majority vote.
At the time the user shared the news online, none of the legally specified procedures had been followed.
News that Meru Governor has been impeached are therefore false.
This fact-check was produced by BUSINESS TODAY with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, African Fact Checking Alliance network and the United Nations Development Programme.
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