In Summary
The senate voted against impeachment of Siaya Deputy Governor after allegations of misappropriation of funds and resources in his office.
The county government of Siaya through the leadership of James Orengo last month proceeded to impeach the current deputy governor on allegations of corruption and not working together with the governor to implement their manifesto.
The deputy governor had previously been heard publicly accusing the governor of mismanaging the county office and funds and was also not getting involved in running the county as he was spending most of his time in Nairobi.
On Monday the Senate committee forwarded the impeachment allegations to the parliament after approving two of the counts. The 11-member special senate committee report recommended the removal of Mr. Oduol.
The committee discovered that Mr. Oduol had made an attempt to sabotage the procurement procedure by giving the director of supply chain management instructions to reclassify the tenders for the delivery of certified seeds and fertilizer.
He was also cited for deceiving the public by spreading untrue information about the resignation of County Secretary Joseph Ogutu and the redistribution of monies intended for the Siaya Stadium’s completion.
Given the disagreements between the ruling coalition and the opposition, a Kenya Kwanza senator informed the Nation that they had been given clear instructions to save the deputy governor.
“Mr. Oduol will continue to serve as the deputy governor of Siaya, I can say that without fear of dispute. Kenya Kwanza has adopted that stance, the senator stated. Another source, a senator from Azimio, claimed that their Kenyan Kwanza counterparts had confided in them about threats and intimidation to debunk the news.
“Our counterparts have described to us how a leader of the House harassed them over the phone after they approved the report that demanded Mr. Oduol be removed from his position. If they manage to save him, it would have been achieved via intimidation, and the deputy governor is being protected for political reasons rather than on the basis of actual merit, he claimed.
“The net effect of these votes is that the Senate has failed to remove from office by impeachment William Oduol and that he accordingly continue to hold office,” said Senate Speaker Amason Kingi.
Earlier in the day, the debate over the report followed party lines, despite Azimio’s entreaties for senators to vote their conscience.
Samson Cherargei, a senator from Nandi, criticized the report and declared that the Senate will not be used to settle or sanitize political conflicts.
However, Siaya Senator Oburu Oginga stated: “The committee has demonstrated that there is no worse offense than breaking the constitution. I’m not sure how you expect the governor to work with the same deputy who has tarnished his name if you ignore the report’s suggestion.
There are 47 elected senators in the Senate; 31 of them support Kenya Kwanza, while 15 support Azimio.
