Kericho Governor Erick Mutai has once again survived an impeachment attempt after the Senate ruled that the County Assembly had not met the constitutional threshold required for his removal from office.
On Thursday evening, 23 senators voted that the Assembly failed to satisfy Section 33(3) of the County Governments Act, while 17 senators supported the motion for his ouster. Mutai was facing charges of abuse of office, illegal and irregular appointments, and dismissal of senior county officials, with 33 out of 47 MCAs in Kericho having voted to impeach him last week.
This marked the second time in less than a year that Mutai has been spared by the Senate. In October last year, a similar motion collapsed after 34 senators voted in his favor, compared to 10 who wanted the impeachment hearing to proceed.
Mutai vehemently denied the accusations, insisting they were part of a calculated political scheme. In his opening remarks on Wednesday, August 27, he said, “What is happening in Kericho is a well-orchestrated political conspiracy to remove the governor. One is for political interest and expedition, because at the County Assembly we have a Speaker whose interest is to be the Kericho governor.”
He went on to claim that the Speaker had manipulated vote numbers during the County Assembly proceedings to secure the two-thirds majority needed for his ouster.
“This is by impeaching the governor and probably along the way impeach the deputy governor and sit as both the governor and the deputy so that out of ten years he served as CEC Kericho in charge of finance and CEC in charge of roads will be able to execute what he never accomplished,” he argued.
By once again escaping removal, Mutai has cemented his reputation as a political survivor, though the repeat impeachment efforts underscore deep divisions within Kericho’s leadership.
