Kericho County Assembly sets August 15 sitting to debate Governor Erick Mutai’s ouster

Kericho County Assembly has gazetted a special sitting on August 15 to debate an impeachment motion against Governor Erick Mutai, a move that comes barely a day after the governor initiated a push to have the county government dissolved.

The motion, sponsored by MCA Kiprotich Rogony, will be the sole agenda of the sitting, according to Speaker Patrick Mutai.

“Pursuant to Standing Order No. 29 of the Kericho County Assembly Standing Orders, on the request of the County Assembly’s Leader of Majority, I have appointed Friday, August 15, 2025, starting at 10.00 a.m, to be a special sitting whose agenda shall be to debate on the notice of motion by Honourable Kiprotich Rogony on the removal by impeachment of Dr. Erick Mutai as Kericho County Governor,” reads part of the gazette notice dated August 8.

The impeachment motion accuses Governor Mutai of gross constitutional violations, abuse of office and financial misconduct. It is anchored on findings of an Ad Hoc Committee report that flagged irregular payments amounting to more than Sh85.7 million during the 2024/2025 financial year.

The report details questionable procurement processes involving 46 companies, concealed payment vouchers, inflated project costs and instances of non-delivery of contracted services.

Among the findings are: Sh80.5 million paid through questionable procurement, Sh5.1 million disbursed to firms with concealed vouchers, inflated pricing by up to 300 per cent, payments without supporting documents in 78 per cent of cases and attempts to bypass open tendering by using the Request for Quotation (RQ) method.

Governor Mutai is expected to appear before the assembly next week to respond to the allegations before Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) vote on the motion.

The gazettement of the special sitting came just a day after Governor Mutai publicly urged President William Ruto to dissolve Kericho County. He announced plans to launch a countywide drive to collect signatures in support of a constitutional petition for dissolution under Article 192 of the Constitution.

“I am therefore officially pursuing a constitutional petition for the dissolution of the County Government of Kericho under Article 192 of the Constitution of Kenya,” Mutai said.

“I invite the residents of Kericho to consider and pass a constitutional petition for the dissolution of the county government. Tomorrow, we will begin the collection of signatures.”

This is the second impeachment attempt against the governor, who in October 2024 survived removal after the Senate upheld a preliminary objection by his legal team, led by lawyer Katwa Kigen.

At the time, 34 senators voted in favour of the objection, while 10 opposed it. The defense argued that the Kericho County Assembly had failed to meet the two-thirds threshold required under section 33 of the County Governments Act and the Standing Orders.

Only 31 members had voted to impeach him, instead of the required 32, rendering the process invalid.