Senate · Afternoon Sitting

Clerk, do we have Quorum? Hon. Senators, we now have quorum. Senator for Nandi and Senator for Homa Bay, kindly settle down. Clerk, you may proceed to call the first Order.

[(The Clerk-at-the-Table consulted with the Speaker)]

[(Sen. Cherargei and Sen. M. Kajwang’ consulted loudly)]

[(Sen. Cherargei and Sen. M. Kajwang’ sat in their places)]

Hon. Senators, if you may recall, before we went on a lunch break, there was a preliminary objection that was raised by the Governor, which I undertook to deliver a ruling upon resumption, which is now. Hon. Senators, on Monday 25th August, 2025, as part of the bundle of documents submitted by the Governor, pursuant to Rule 6 of Part I of the Third Schedule to the Senate Standing Orders, M/s. Kat…

Now we will proceed to hear the opening statement by the County Assembly. Thereafter, we will move to hear the opening statement by the Governor. Each party has 30 minutes to do so. Counsel for the County Assembly, you may now take to the Floor.

I thank you so much, Mr. Speaker, Sir and distinguished Senators. It gives me great pleasure once again to appear before you on a matter involving a Motion for the proposed removal of a governor from office, by way of impeachment. Before I get into the pith and marrow of my opening statement, I will begin by reflecting on the fact that coincidentally, today is 27th August, 2025, which marks precis…

by instrument of this Motion, caused this House to sit here today and engage in this conversation, this dialogue on constitutionalism, governance and the rule of law through the prism of the County Government of Kericho. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is in the place of an opening statement to lay out the broad outline of one's case. Therefore, I wish to proceed by laying out the broad outline of the case …

You will be glad that you will have the inspection reports that were supposed to support this voucher for this payment. Whereas this is a contract for the construction of a bridge, the inspection report will talk about how bushes were cleared. You will see that standard observation in all inspection reports to support this double payment. Somebody had a cut and paste observation in the inspection …

collecting that money itself. You will be told that Kshs300,000 was given to the County Commissioner in order to facilitate him to move around. You will see millions of shillings that is accounted for as money for tents. I was telling my clients that I wish we were told that those tents were set up in funerals to help people mourn. No, these were set up at hotel establishments for bureaucrats to …

You have 10 minutes.

Thank you and my apologies, Mr. Speaker, Sir. My eyes - I will need to see an ophthalmologist soon. There is another scandal. If the technical team can show us the exhibit on page 14, Volume 6A. I will appreciate. If they cannot, then I will ask the hon. Senators to look at their volumes on page 14. In that bundle, you will see a motor vehicle. I would not give the design, but it looks like a Pro…

Counsel, as you refer to the volumes, also refer to the page, so that the hon. Senators can follow.

I was coming to that. The bills start on page 129, but the actual bills are on page 130, which tells you what should be done to external walling and to do re-roofing. Subject to your guidance, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I request your technical team to put on the screen photos of those houses. They are in Volume 4A from pages 102 to 107. As you look at the bills of quantities in front of you, I beseech th…

Mr. Speaker, Sir, may you in the interest of time direct your technical team to allow our technical team out there to put these photos that are in Volume 4 (A) pages 102-107 on the screens.

Technical team, can you beam those photos on the screens. Counsel for the County Assembly, are they in clip form?

They are just scanned. Alternatively let me make work easier for everybody. Let us look at Volume 6A.

Counsel for the County Assembly, if we could have one of your team members in the control room---

Mr. Speaker, Sir, we already have somebody there. I request hon. Members to look at the Bill of Quantities (BQs) against those houses that are finalized and paid for at Kshs2.9 million. One of the BQs paid for is reroofing and you will see the description of the roof. These houses have been fully paid for at Kshs2.9 million. When the County Assembly steps here and tells you that we have brought …

[(Scanned photos were displayed on the screens)]

Counsel for the Governor, you have 30 minutes to make your opening statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I request that you allow me to invite the Governor who want to say something. We will confine to the 30 minutes you have given us. The Governor for Kericho County (Dr.) Erick Kipkoech Mutai): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir and hon. Senators. I appreciate this sitting. As the lead counsel for the

County Assembly has indicated, we are here to celebrate the Katiba Day a very important promulgation by our President. As I stand before you, I wish to indicate some few observations. One, is that a decision has already been made on our preliminary objection. The bigger question we will be advancing as we move forward in these proceedings is whether there were proper impeachment proceedings or no…

This is so that out of the 10 years he has served as the CECM for Finance in Kericho County and as CECM for Roads, he will be able to execute what he has not accomplished. We will demonstrate that as we make our defense. I wish to speak from my heart. Somebody was asking me why I chose to make this statement unlike last time. In the County Assembly in the last impeachment, I reminded them of the …

Thank you and may God bless this great Senate. We put all our trust and hope in this very good ‘upper’ Senate. Over time, has proven that it does things in an appropriate way and upholds the Constitution. Thank you so much.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, and hon. Senators, the first issue I wish to address is our insistence on the preliminary objection we raised earlier. We take on board the directions and the guidance given by the Speaker. We will adduce evidence of the 18 MCAs who did not vote. We maintain that, indeed, this Motion should not be here because the total optimum number of MCAs who could have possibly voted in favo…

We would also like to indicate and we will adduce evidence on this point, that much as the Governor was taken through the process of impeachment at the County Assembly and came to learn of the reports subsequently, he has already forwarded some of those aspects of those reports to EACC and the EACC is already taking action on some of those issues. It just goes to show how proactive and interested …

could be done there. There was no determination that it belongs to the person who had complained. The nearest that was made was that the property should not have been used for dumping before certification has been issued. Mr. Speaker, Sir and hon. Senators, for those reasons we pray that in the course of this trial, we will show that this impeachment Motion, does not meet the threshold for it to …

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I want to ask a question in response to a video which was played by Mr. Ongoya, where the Governor has undertaken what we call self-help measures. When you go home and find a stranger in your kitchen, what will be your first instinct as a human being? In common law there is a doctrine known as self-help. In Kenya, there is a major problem of land grabbing. The land in…

determine that there is culpability by the Governor, you must look at the evidence. There must be something which the Governor did personally for purposes of being removed from office. What is it that the Governor did in respect to the procurement? Look at the evidence of the County Assembly; they will not be saying the Governor did this. Instead, they will be saying that a procurement officer di…

says he developed the system internally. The system was deployed for the first time in this impeachment. That is a serious matter concerning the removal of the Governor from office. It was being deployed for the first time. We will demonstrate to you the vulnerabilities of this system. To access the system to vote, all you need is to get the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) number…

We shall now move to hear the case by the County Assembly. Counsel for the County Assembly, you have five hours. Within those five hours, three hours shall be used for witnesses to give evidence-in-chief and be re- examined. Out of those five hours, the County Assembly has three hours to adduce evidence and for re-examination. The team for the Governor will have two hours for cross-examination. On…