Wamatangi: State using graft cases to derail me

Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi has said his fallout with the national government had led to his prosecution on fictitious charges.

The county boss on Monday revealed that powerful people within the government had hatched a plan to sponsor a motion to have him impeached by the county assembly after he refused to participate in a conflict of interest in which senior government officials wanted to grab land under the guise of constructing affordable housing.

Mr Wamatangi never revealed the identities of the powerful people behind the alleged land grabbing, and there is no evidence to support his assertions.

He was speaking in Kiambu when he enumerated his achievements since he took office.

The governor went on to claim that the freezing of his bank accounts, ongoing investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the subsequent demolition of his 40-year-old business in Nairobi this year were part of a wider strategy to create grounds for his alleged impeachment.

“The plot aimed to throw my administration into chaos, derail the implementation of my manifesto, tarnish my name through high-level propaganda and cripple me financially to set the stage for my removal and spark a voter revolt against me in 2027,” Wamatangi claimed.

“No other leader has been tormented by this government more than Wamatangi. One would even wonder, whom did I offend? Just because I refused to let some elected leaders grab public land,” he added.

He claimed that some of the land targeted for grabbing included 100 acres in Gatuanyaga, Thika, valued at over Sh3 billion, and another prime piece of land in Tigoni, Limuru, belonging to the National Potato Research Centre.

As the country marks four years since the last General Election, Wamatangi says his administration prides itself on constructing 512 new Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres, 32 new hospitals, renewing medical equipment, installing 12,000 solar streetlights, constructing bus parks, 26 new markets and creating 150,000 new water connections.

He said revenue collection had increased, with Own Source Revenue rising from Sh2.9 billion in 2022 to Sh6.5 billion in 2026. The funds have been used to upgrade 19 Vocational Training Centres and support more than 750,000 farmers with farm inputs.

Mr Wamatangi then became the subject of another investigation concerning alleged road tenders with the Kenya National Highways Authority and Kenya Rural Roads Authority between 2017 and 2021. Both matters were later taken to court, but Mr Wamatangi says they are politically motivated and meant to intimidate and blackmail him.

The governor has already announced that he will not seek re-election on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket, citing frustrations and political persecution by the state. He said the government’s actions have fuelled public discontent, leaving the ruling party increasingly unpopular.

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  The High Court, however, declined to block the ongoing investigations by EACC.