Kericho Governor Dr. Erick Mutai’s recent call to dissolve the entire county government may sound bold and revolutionary, but in reality, it reeks of political desperation.
Coming immediately after a fresh impeachment motion was tabled at the County Assembly on Wednesday, this time over alleged misappropriation of up to Sh 80 million through fictitious payments to cronies and proxy companies, the timing of his declaration raises more questions than answers.
It is not the first time Governor Mutai has faced impeachment. In October last year, he narrowly survived similar charges, including gross misconduct, sexual harassment, abuse of office, and misuse of public funds. The Senate saved him not because he was cleared, but because the County Assembly missed the two-thirds threshold by just one vote.
This time, however, he may not be as lucky unless for an unforeseen rescue by the Senate, again. The impeachment motion comes at a time of boiling political temperatures in the green county. Members of the County Assembly(MCAs) are increasingly emboldened, and public sentiment fuelled by ungovernable public awareness is turning sharply against the first-term governor and his associates.
His administration has also been weighed down by endless supremacy battles with his Deputy, Eng. Fred Kirui who is the whistleblower of the Governor’s recent scandal and the strained relationship with the majority of the County Assembly members including Speaker Patrick Mutai.
In fact, Dr Mutai’s chances of coming out ‘alive’ from the Assembly have been significantly reduced after the speaker kicked out a section of his allied MCAs for missing more than eight consecutive sittings.
These clashes have paralyzed key functions and deepened divisions within the county government, undermining any semblance of cohesion or development putting the administration on the spot and more intense public scrutiny.
The governor’s call to dissolve the county government under Article 192 of the Constitution seems less like a solution and more like a political escape hatch. While the Constitution allows for such a process, collecting 45,000 verified signatures which amounts to about 10 percent of registered voters in the county, undergoing IEBC validation, and securing Senate and Presidential approval is an uphill task no Governor has ever pulled off.
With the fast approaching 2027 general polls and IEBC’s state of transition after reconstitution, the Senate and the President will obviously shoot down the plan. Economically, besides the fact that fresh elections in an entire county will be costly, the impact would be dire. Dissolution would freeze development, halt public services, and deepen uncertainty and the taxpayer would pay the highest price which is unnecessary and avoidable.
And even in the unlikely event that the county government is dissolved and fresh elections are held,Dr. Mutai would be edged out of the new gubernatorial race, he would lose it, if he makes it to the ballot. His popularity has waned and the political goodwill he once enjoyed has been blown away by his alleged involvement in the payment over Sh 80 Million to proxy companies and contractors for services not rendered even as the the County Government continues to grapple with Sh 1.1 billion of pending bills.
