The High Court in Meru on Monday, July 29, 2024, referred the case pitting Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza and Members of the Count Assembly to the Njuri Ncheke Council of Elders for determination.
Judge Linus Kassan ordered the feud between Governor Kawira Mwangaza and the Meru Assembly to be resolved before the Njuri Ncheke Supreme Council of Ameru elders within three weeks.
This is after the Njuri Ncheke elders urged the court to grant them an opportunity to try and settle the long-running feud between the MCAs and the county Chief after a fourth impeachment motion against Kawira was lodged last week.
“It is hereby ordered that the parties therein are directed to appear before Njuri Ncheke Supreme Council of Ameru elders with their advocates before Wednesday, July 30, 2024,” the Judge said in a ruling.
The orders by the court in the matter came hours after President William Ruto urged the MCAs and the governor to find an alternative dispute resolution mechanism and avoid the impeachment route.
The Judge ruled that as a way to promote alternative dispute resolution (ADR), as advised by the Head of State, no ruling would be issued regarding the impeachment motion at the time.
“Njuri Njeke Supreme Council of Ameru Elders are hereby ordered to submit their resolution or lack of it on the dispute between the parties herein as directed by the President of the Republic of Kenya not later than three weeks from today,” the Meru High Court ordered.
The Judge indicated he had deferred the ruling on whether impeachment proceedings against the governor, a fourth one, can proceed to August 20, 2024 to pave way for an alternative dispute resolution mechanism to be explored
Justice Kassan also issued an order barring the Meru County Assembly from hearing or debating on the impeachment motion filed by local MCAs pending the determination of the case lodged in court by Kawira.
The court halted the impeachment motion citing it was borne out of malice by her political detractors.
On July 24, 2024 Mwangaza moved to court stopping the MCAs from proceeding with the fourth impeachment motion claiming that her political rivals had forged signatures of MCAs who supported her so as to be able to attain the threshold to discuss an impeachment motion.
Through lawyers Elias Mutuma and Ashaba Mark, the governor claims the impeachment motion is flawed and driven by malice from her political detractors.
She alleges that the MCAs have been whipped along political lines to impeach her in order to settle political scores with her opponents.
Justice Kassan noted that this was the fourth planned impeachment motion against Mwangaza, with the other three attempts failing, and that it was in the public interest to be thorough.
The judge highlighted some of the issues he would seek to address in his ruling, including allegations of forgery of signatures of some MCAs in papers supporting the impeachment motion.
Kawira alleges that some MCAs who supported her were listed as having appended their signatures in support of the motion. She claimed that their signatures were forged.
Justice Kassan said the court was also keen to ensure that Kawira does not suffer double jeopardy by being prosecuted on issues raised in previous impeachment motions.
