Kisii County Deputy Governor Robert Monda has been impeached by the Senate on Friday March 15 morning ending a prolonged power struggle with Kisii Governor Simba Arati.
Monda who is accused of gross misconduct, abuse of office, gross violation of the Constitution and law and offences under National Law was ousted from office following a vote taken by Senators at 12 am on Friday.
This makes him the first deputy governor to face such a fate since the inception of devolution in Kenya in 2013.
The majority of the senators, in their vote, upheld the decision by the Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) of Kisii County to have him removed from office.
“Following the division, it is evident that the senators have upheld the impeachment charges, which include gross violation of the Constitution and other laws, abuse of office, gross misconduct, and offences under national law,” announced Senate Speaker Amason Kingi.
He was declared guilty of all the four charges with 39 Ayes, 3 Nays and 1 Abstentions in favour of gross Violation of the Constitution and 35 Ayes,7 Nays and 1Abstention for gross Misconduct.
In cases of Abuse of office and crimes under National Law the senators voted 39 Ayes, 3 Nays, and 1Abstentions and 32ayes,10 nays and 1 Abstention respectively .
Monda was accused of abusing the Integrity Act of 2012 among other violations for allegedly soliciting Sh800,000 from Dennis Mokaya as bribe to help him secure a job at the Gusii Water and Sanitation Company Limited (GWASCO).
This however did not go as planned as the DG did not keep to his promise of securing him the job which he says impacted his family negatively as they had sold their sources of livelihood to raise the money.
“My wife did not take it easy. At that time, she was expectant after twelve years of trying and she ended up suffering a miscarriage,” he stated.
Following the impeachment, Kisii Governor Simba Arati is expected to nominate a new deputy within 14 days who will then be considered by the County Assembly within 60 days.
How Ksh.800,000 bribe and family wrangles made senators impeach Kisii Deputy Governor Robert Monda pic.twitter.com/RXxCwErBBn
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) March 15, 2024
