Eric Wainaina @PeopleDailyKe
When politician-cum-Bishop Stephen Ndicho was elected as Kiambu County Assembly Speaker, a coveted seat that comes with huge perks, his dying political career was resuscitated.
This, considering he had been in political cold for 15 years after being ousted by former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo in 2002 General Election as the larger Juja constituency MP.
Ndicho unsuccessfully tried to recapture the seat in 2007 and during the 2009 by-election, and later tried his luck in the Kiambu senatorial seat in 2013 and 2017, but in bother elections, he lost to the incumbent Kimani Wamatangi.
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And so, as far as his political life is concerned, his position as the third in command in the devolved unit after Governor Ferdinand Waititu and his deputy James Nyoro is a story of from grace to grass and back to grace.
Malicious
But Ndicho is now staring at being relegated to the political cold again after unhappy MCAs initiated a process of impeaching him over claims of fraud, abuse of office and killing the independence of the House.
Over 60 out of the Assembly’s 92 MCAs have signed his impeachment motion, which has already been received by the Office of the Clerk.
People Daily has obtained the signed motion and some of the back-up documents, which the MCAs will rely on to kick out the Speaker. His planned impeachment comes three weeks after the ouster of Leader of Majority Antony Ikonya and Chief Whip James Mburu.
He is being accused of incurring nonexistence expenses, causing the Assembly to lose millions and hiring people unlawfully although he was quick to deny the claims, which he described as malicious and promised to deal with the MCAs behind them.
Violation of law
Ndicho is also being accused of undermining the authority of the Assembly and its service board and conflict of interest after he allegedly employed his daughter in the Assembly, abuse of office and gross violation of the Constitution and other laws.
The Speaker is battling claims that he dishonestly received Sh323,898 ostensibly for an inspection visit at Shandong Henry Machinery Manufacturing Company in China while he knew well that he did not undertake such visit.
Further to the payments, the County Assembly procured a business class ticket for him with a substantial amount of money as imprest for airport transfer and other expenses, leading to loss of public cash.
He also allegedly facilitated wastage of public money by demanding that his official car, a Mercedes Benz be given an extreme makeover at a cost of Sh2.5 million to befit his status.
During the period his car was being spruced up, the Speaker has availed another car, a Maroon Ford Everest, which was made through an arrangement with the county executive, but he allegedly rejected it and demanded a more luxurious one.
To this effect, a black Toyota Prado was hired which he also rejected on what the MCAs claimed were flimsy reasons and instead, he allegedly personally hired another Prado-a 150 Series from a non-pre qualified provider against the procurement laws.
Political witch-hunt
The car, a KCF 787B, a black Toyota Prado, according to the motion was hired “irregularly” with Ndicho facing accusations of allegedly causing a Local Purchase Order amounting to Sh960, 000.
Later he is said to have demanded a similar car that was procured at a cost of Sh13 million and which had its number plates “interchanged with fake GK numbers” and when it was involved in an accident in November last year, the insurer declined to pay compensation because of irregularities.
The motion further claims he caused an exaggeration on the cost of air tickets, notably on October 25, 2018, when a ticket to Mexico was bought at Sh547,180 and another one to Italy was purchased at an inflated cost of Sh490,000.
But Ndicho has denied the claims, terming them political witch-hunt. Ndicho said neither him nor his office was involved in the repairs and purchases of the cars, saying the “Assembly has a budgetary estimate for every item to be purchased”.
“I am a Christian and my principles cannot allow me to engage in fraud. It’s sheer politics meant to tarnish my name. My record as a straight person stands for itself since my days as Juja MP,” Ndicho told People Daily yesterday.
