Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo survives impeachment after Senate upholds objections

Senators on Wednesday evening voted to stop the impeachment of Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo in its tracks, after upholding a preliminary objection raised by his defence team.

With 38 Senators backing the motion and only four opposing it, the case will not proceed to a full hearing.

The Governor’s lawyers had earlier in the morning tabled two objections challenging the very foundation of the impeachment effort.

They argued that the impeachment motion dated November 11, 2025 fell short of the constitutional and legal requirements for removing a Governor from office.

According to the team, the County Assembly’s resolution was “invalid and incompetent” for failing to meet the mandatory standards set under Article 181 of the Constitution and Section 33 of the County Governments Act.

The second objection zeroed in on the use of proxy voting during the impeachment vote. Led by Elias Mutuma, the Governor’s legal team dismissed the practice as illegal, unknown to law, and null and void.

They said claims of proxy voting were being used to explain away vote-count discrepancies that were, in their view, rooted in “fraud, forgery and misrepresentation.”

The lawyers insisted that only 19 Members of the County Assembly were physically present during the vote, yet the final tally indicated 23 votes in favour of impeaching the Governor; an outcome they described as not just irregular, but “numerically impossible.”

They also faulted the Assembly’s argument that its membership had dropped from 35 to 32 due to three vacancies, calling it both illogical and legally unfounded.

Counsel for the County Assembly pushed back, defending the use of proxy voting and insisting that proxy letters existed to prove the delegated votes.

They argued that while the Standing Orders did not expressly provide for proxy voting, the Speaker was within his powers to permit it under Standing Order No. 1.

Before casting their votes, Senators made various submissions, many stressing the need to uphold justice for the Governor, the County Assembly and the people of Nyamira County.

In the end, the Senate sided with the objections, bringing the impeachment process to an abrupt halt.