Cord distances itself from Waiguru impeachment woes

Diaspora Messenger | May 25, 2014 | 

The opposition—CORD—Sunday distanced itself from the plans to impeach Devolution Cabinet Secretary, saying it was an internal feud between Jubilee coalition partners.

Cord chief whip in the National Assembly Jakoyo Midiwo sought to dissociate the opposition as Igembe Central MP Mithika Linturi vowed to push for Ms Waiguru’s impeachment inspite of pressure from “high places” to abandon the motion.
Mr Midiwo said Cord was not ready to be sucked into the motion of impeachment of the Devolution CS, who is accused of arbitrary transfer and sacking of civil servants.

The motion, he argued, was a product of the differences between President Uhuru Kenyatta’s The National Alliance (TNA) and his deputy William Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP).

“It (the impeachment motion) is a war between Uhuru and Ruto. We as a coalition are not involved in the feud between the Jubilee partners,” he said in Nairobi.

He spoke as the originator of the motion who has already collected 160 signatures from MPs, Mt Linturi said he has come under pressure from individuals in “high “ places whose identities he declined to give to abandon the motion against the powerful cabinet secretary.

He said he was still visiting various MPs to collect the signatures to a petition against the minister . “Only one of the signatories has withdrawn and we are still going on. I will not abandon the motion until she either resigns or we force her out,” he said.

She is dangerous for our coalition

The TNA legislator claimed that government functionaries supporting the minister had mobilized elders in his constituency to put pressure on him to abandon his move.
“They have refused to address the issues we have raised. This minister is dangerous for our coalition because she is annoying so many people and very soon we may not have a coalition,” he warned.
Further Mr Linturi said: “We want the people supporting her to stick to issues and tell us why we should not bring this cabinet secretary to account instead of resorting to intimidation.”
Ms Waiguru has been under fire for transferring former National Youth Service boss Kiplimo Rugut from the organization and replaced him with Mr Nelson Githinji who is a former Comptroller of State House.
At the weekend, Mr Ruto came to the defense of the embattled cabinet secretary accusing those pushing for her removal of targeting the wrong person.

Mr Ruto insisted that he and the President are responsible for Mr Rugut’s removal from the well-funded State department.

“We are responsible for his removal. And people should know that he was not sacked but only transferred,” he said.

But fiery Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter , who was in Kuresoi for a fundraising , maintained that the DP’s URP is being short-changed despite the support granted to the Jubilee government.

In Nairobi, a group of women leaders defended Ms Waiguru, saying she was a target of malicious campaign to discredit women who had proved to be efficient and effective.

This is a gender war and has nothing to do with the performance of Ms Waiguru and we are calling on the leaders to give priority to issues afflicting Kenyans such as insecurity, high cost of living and unemployment instead of focusing on petty politics and witch hunt,” said Nominated MP Sophia Abdi who led the group.

-nation.co.ke