Meru County Governor Kawira Mwangaza has been arrested. She was apprehended by police this afternoon in Ruiga, Central Imenti while trying to launch another of her Okolea Projects.
The fiery Governor released a statement Wednesday afternoon confirming that she was indeed in police custody. She also went ahead to blame the security agencies for detaining her without profering charges.
She further complained of being detained unduly in a police vehicle.
“I am under arrest. The police officers hawataki kunipeleka Station kufungua mastaka. I have been held in this police car for two hours now,” she told a crowd who had gathered to witness the spectacle.
ADVERTISEMENT“It is disheartening to witness needless curtailment of development efforts meant to help the vulnerable in our community. Such intimidation should not be allowed to obstruct progress in the Meru community,” she added.
The county boss said the law enforcers were sent to interfere with the implementation of the program.
The governor had earlier announced that she had distributed cows to the needy families, an initiative under the Okolea Program.
Multiple reports indicate that the program had earlier been banned by the State.
“This afternoon through a directorate Livestock Development and Fisheries, I delivered a cow and pre-fabricated cow shed to a deserving needy family in Mithatene, Ruiga Central Imenti as part of One Dairy Cow, One needy Family Program. This initiative funded by the County Government of Meru and approved by the county assembly aims at uplifting the lives of the less fortunate,” she said.
The arrest comes even as MCAs on Tuesday lined up seven issues as grounds for her impeachment.
In the first count, the MCAs accuse Mwangaza of misappropriation and misuse of county resources.
They claim the governor has, among other things, embezzled county funds using her relatives including sisters, a brother and a nephew.
They accuse the Meru governor of making withdrawals of county funds under the guise of payment for various supplies that are made by her relatives.
The MCAs also claimed Mwangaza diverted county resources for personal use.
“Diversion and misuse of county resources including funds and vehicles to run the governor’s charity deemed Okolea despite promising the senate to refrain from conflicting official county activities and Okolea operations,” the Assembly Majority leader Evans Mawira said.
Mwangaza is also accused of Nepotism and unrelated unethical practices, where she is said to have employed her relatives. She is also accused of taking her relatives on overseas trips in the guise that they are experts.
She is also accused of bullying, vilification and demeaning other leaders in the county, illegal appointments, and usurpation of statutory powers.
Mwangaza is also accused of contempt of court, illegally naming a public road after her husband without following statutory procedures and contempt of the Assembly.
If successful, this will be the second impeachment attempt on Kawira Mwangaza in under a year.
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