Nyaribo Wins Big as Senate Declares Impeachment Motion Invalid

 

 Amos Nyaribo addresses the Senate during the session detailing charges against him in the impeachment motion.

Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo has survived yet another impeachment attempt after the Senate upheld a preliminary objection filed by his legal team, effectively stopping the case from proceeding to a full hearing. The decision came after 38 senators voted in favour of the objection, with only four opposing, allowing Nyaribo to remain in office.

The governor’s lawyers argued that the impeachment motion passed by the Nyamira County Assembly on November 11, 2025 was invalid, incompetent, and failed to meet the legal thresholds required under Article 181 of the Constitution and Section 33 of the County Governments Act. They maintained that the assembly’s process did not satisfy the legal standards necessary to remove a sitting governor.

A major point of contention was the allegation of proxy voting during the impeachment vote. Nyaribo’s defence insisted that only 19 MCAs were physically present in the chamber, yet the final tally indicated 23 votes in favour of impeachment. The team described this as “numerically impossible,” calling proxy voting illegal and unknown to any Kenyan law. They accused the assembly of using a flawed, and possibly forged, voting process.

The County Assembly’s representatives defended their process, arguing that their Standing Orders allowed proxy letters and that the Speaker acted within the law. However, the Senate sided with the governor’s objection, concluding that the assembly did not meet the constitutional threshold required to proceed with the impeachment.

The impeachment motion had accused Nyaribo of gross violations of the law, including endorsing irregular “Bunge Mashinani” sittings and engaging in abuse of office through controversial appointments. The governor denied all allegations, but because the Senate upheld the objection, the substantive charges were never examined.

This is part of a pattern in which attempts to remove Nyaribo have repeatedly collapsed on procedural grounds rather than on the merits of the accusations. The ruling once again highlighted concerns raised by several senators about the lack of clear national legislation outlining impeachment procedures a gap that continues to create disputes over quorum, voting methods, and thresholds in county assemblies.

With the Senate’s decision, Amos Nyaribo stays in office, his survival rooted not in the dismissal of the charges themselves but in the technical flaws surrounding the impeachment process.

Reporting by: Babz Abdul Raheem N.
Date: December 04, 2025