Embu County Assembly on Wednesday afternoon passed motions requiring two County Executive Committee Members (CECMs) to step aside pending investigations into incompetence and gross violation of the law allegations.
Deputy Speaker Ibrahim Swaleh, who is also MCA Kirimari Ward, moved the motion to suspend Lands CEC Member Raymond Kinyua while his Ruguru-Ngandori counterpart, Muturi Mwombo, made his submissions to have Health CEC Member Jamal Runyenje step aside.
Speaker Josiah Thiriku sanctioned the tabling of the two motions as a matter of urgency, noting that allegations of grabbing of public land and neglect of public health facilities were threatening to provoke civil disobedience by the Embu County populace.
The speaker noted that two people had been killed during demonstrations protesting against the poor state of the Ishiara Level Four Hospital while Embu Town was teetering on the brink of riots by traders opposed to their eviction from a public plot to pave the way for private development.
The Assembly heard that Kinyua has, within his tenure, superintended over fraudulent and illegal allocation of public land to private developers, including a parcel of land in Embu Municipality that was initially meant for expansion of the Embu Level Five Hospital.
The CEC Member is reportedly said to have falsified a document from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) convening a public participation forum on the change of user for the said parcel of land.
He is accused of going against the County Assembly’s resolution to stop alienation of the land parcel pending investigation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on the circumstances leading to its allocation to a private developer.
On the other hand, the CEC Member for Health is alleged to have caused unnecessary loss of life by incompetently handling the public healthcare sector and thwarting the implementation of the Embu County Health Services Act of 2024.
Ward representatives lamented over the poor absorption of funds allocated by the County Assembly to the health docket, which they said has led to the dilapidation of infrastructure and deterioration of conditions of public health facilities.
The two motions also resolved to form Ad-hoc committees to investigate the two officers and table their findings and recommendations within 60 days.
The MCAs asserted that they would not shy off from impeaching the two CEC members if found culpable of graft or incompetence.
The officers will be accorded hearing by the Assembly and may be represented by lawyers.
By Samuel Waititu
