The swearing in of Mr James Nyoro as Kiambu governor will be conducted on January 31, 2020 at the County headquarters.
A notice in the special issue of the Kenya Gazette and the County Gazette published late Thursday indicated that the event will start at 10am. The notice was signed by the Kiambu County Secretary Martin Mbugua.
The decision to swear the Mr Nyoro, who was impeached Ferdinand Waititu’s deputy, comes after the initial swearing failed to take place on Thursday after a judge dispatched by the Judiciary raised legal issues with the manner the event was planned.
High Court Judge James Makau instead certified the case as urgent and asked Mr Waititu to serve copies of the case documents to the parties by Friday noon before a hearing of the case on Monday.
The embattled governor had sought orders stopping the swearing-in of his deputy and the suspension of the implementation of the resolution of the Senate. He also wanted Mr Nyoro barred from assuming office or executing functions as a governor.
Soon after his impeachment on Wednesday, Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka published a special notice in the Kenya Gazette notifying the public of the House’s decision.
As a result of the Gazette Notice, the judiciary dispatched High Court Judge John Onyiego to conduct the swearing in ceremony.
However, the judge arrived in Kiambu and locked himself in the office, raising some legal technicalities over the process. According to the Assumption to the Office of Governor Act, an elected governor is supposed to be sworn in 10 days after declaration of election results.
Similarly, the judge argued that the date, time and venue of the event had not been gazetted, which in his opinion, rendered the process illegal. Sources say that a legal opinion was sought from the office of Attorney-General.
A source privy to the matter says the AG had argued that the issues raised by the judge only applied to a newly elected governor not a deputy governor who assumes office as a result of vacancy on the office of the governor. Solicitor-General Kennedy Ogetto was dispatched to Kiambu but he could not convince the judge.
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