Taita Taveta speaker reinstated after court nullifies impeachment

Taita Taveta county leaders and national officials during the assembly’s prayer breakfast in Wundanyi.

Taita Taveta county leaders struck a conciliatory tone and called for unity, healing and renewed focus on service delivery as Speaker Wisdom Mwamburi officially resumed office following a court-ordered reinstatement.

The event came weeks after the High Court nullified Mwamburi’s impeachment, ruling that the process was unconstitutional, unlawful and procedurally unfair. The court decision effectively ended a protracted political and legal standoff that had divided the assembly since mid-2024, when a faction of members of the county assembly moved to impeach the speaker on grounds of alleged misconduct, incompetence and loss of confidence.

Speaking for the first time since his reinstatement, Mwamburi addressed a prayer breakfast in Wundanyi that also marked the opening of the county assembly’s fifth session. He said the ruling should not be seen as a personal victory but as an affirmation of constitutional order and the rule of law. He added that the difficult period of litigation and leadership uncertainty had tested the assembly, but also created an opportunity for renewal.

“The court pronouncement is not the victory of an individual. Rather, it is a shared victory of this whole county assembly, and I receive it with humility, sobriety and a renewed sense of responsibility,” Mwamburi said, adding, “In my view, the matter is settled. It is now time for all of us, regardless of which side of the divide we stood, to focus on service to the people of Taita Taveta.”

Mwamburi assured MCAs, staff and residents that he harboured no bitterness or desire for vengeance following his removal and reinstatement, stressing that institutional integrity must take precedence over personal or political disagreements.

He pledged to lead the House with fairness, openness and respect for the rule of law, and urged members to choose dialogue over confrontation as the county enters the final stretch of the current electoral term.

“With barely a year to the next general election, the people of Taita Taveta are only interested in serious work, which include legislation, oversight, representation and development that touches their lives,” he said.

He further stated that “Our county assembly is not divided or paralyzed. With me at the helm, this house is standing and committed to working as one united institution.”

Wundanyi MP Danson Mwashako, who said it was his first time attending the county assembly prayer breakfast due to overlapping parliamentary sittings in Nairobi, echoed the call for reconciliation and collective responsibility. He said the speaker’s return had elicited mixed reactions but urged leaders to let bygones be bygones and focus on the original promise of devolution.

“When human understanding fails, we must invite divine intervention. This is a time for us to come together as an assembly and as a county, and to ask ourselves why, more than a decade after devolution, our people still feel that things are not working as they should,” Mwashako said.

The MP criticised persistent conflicts between the county executive and the assembly, noting that the two arms of government are constitutionally required to complement, not undermine, each other.

While defending the assembly’s oversight role, he warned against turning accountability into personal or political battles.

“There is nothing wrong with oversight and calling things as they are in the county executive,” he said.

“But harmony does not mean abandoning our duties, and it also does not mean fighting for the sake of fighting. We must be good stewards of the resources entrusted to us and refuse to be comfortable with mediocrity.”