Kenya Insights

Tag: Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo

  • Nyamira Governor Nyaribo Impeached

    Nyamira Governor Nyaribo Impeached

    Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo was impeached after 23 out of 31 Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) voted to remove him from office.

    The motion, on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, sponsored by Bonyamatuta Ward MCA Julius Kimwomi Matwere, accused the governor of gross violation of the Constitution, abuse of office and illegal handling of a payroll audit.

    The vote marked the latest chapter in a long-running conflict between Nyaribo and the Assembly.

    Since 2023, MCAs have attempted several times to remove him, with previous efforts in 2024 and early 2025 falling short by a single vote.

    This time, the Assembly reached the required threshold with ease, sending the matter to the Senate for final determination.

    Violations outlined

    While moving the motion, MCA Matwere read a detailed statement accusing the governor of bypassing the law when commissioning a payroll audit. He argued that the governor violated the Public Audit Act and attempted to usurp the mandate of the Auditor-General.

    “The Governor has not requested that the County of Nyamira sanction the Auditor General to undertake any audit. Section 23 of the Public Audit Act 2015 provides for the outsourcing of audit services, while Section 24 of the Public Audit Act 2015 provides for the engagement of services of technical experts or consultants and professionals in fulfilment of Article 229,” Matwere said.

    “The purpose of the Constitution, which states the principal purpose of the audit, is to confirm whether all non-public money has been applied lawfully and in an effective way.”

    “Audit is a process that follows cardinal guidelines, which the purported orders of the county executive payroll did not follow, before coming up with the purported payroll audit report. Section 31 of the Public Audit Act 2015 provides how the processes of audit shall be undertaken.”

    “Mr Speaker, Section 36 of the Public Audit Act 2015 provides that the audit report is submitted to Parliament or the county assembly for tabling and debate. How the county payroll audit report, which was not done by or authorised by the auditor general, will be placed before Parliament or the county secretary for debate, and a consideration has not been explained.”

    “Section 37 of the Public Audit Act 2015 provides for a forensic audit upon request by Parliament or County Assemblies to establish fraud, corruption or financial improprieties in state organs and public entities.”

    “The audit report is then placed before Parliament, or the County Assembly, for debate, and a consideration where appropriate resolutions and actions will emanate. The Governor, therefore, insulted the constitutional mandate of the Auditor General, which he allocated to himself to initiate a payroll audit without authorisation.”

    Amos Nyaribo during a past event.
    Amos Nyaribo during a past event.

    He added that the County Public Service Board had already disowned the audit process. According to Matwere, the board confirmed that Nyaribo singularly commissioned the payroll audit, including the appointment of an audit committee that would digest the findings of the audit, without involving the board.

    Matwere cited a communication from the board dated January 15, 2025, which reversed the governor’s decision, describing the move as unauthorised. He also noted that the County Executive Committee later attempted to appeal the board’s position, despite lacking legal grounds to do so.

    Financial loss and betrayal of public trust

    The MCA accused the governor of causing financial loss and undermining governance structures.

    “His actions are marked by illegal diversion of public resources and a flattened disregard for courts and disassembly at the Senate,” he said.

    “Including the brassing and usurpation of the Count’s Public Service Board authority, have resulted in undemonstrable financial loss to the Count’s Government of Nyamira, amounting to approximately Ksh54,567,000, with a further liability of Ksh325 million annually due to unsustainable illegal hiring.”

    “I assert that… this is not a matter of minor administrative error, but I sustain the betrayal of the public trust that demands the ultimate penalty. His continued tenure is a catastrophic risk to the future of Nyamira County and an affront to the principles of revolution.”

    Matwere urged the Assembly to act, saying the county had been in the national spotlight for negative reasons and needed to restore order.

    Long-running feud

    The impeachment followed years of tension. A fresh motion was tabled on November 17, 2025, continuing a pattern of political battles, parallel sittings, court cases and corruption investigations, including a recent EACC raid linked to a Ksh382 million tender.

    With the Assembly now approving his removal by a wide margin, the governor’s fate rests with the Senate.

  • Why The DCI Have Summoned Nyamira County Chiefs To Nairobi

    Why The DCI Have Summoned Nyamira County Chiefs To Nairobi

    Panic and tension has gripped Nyamira county government headquarters after the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters summoned four senior county officers over allegations of abuse of office.

    The four are required to record statements over claims that they have abused their offices contrary to section 101 of the penal code.

    In a letter addressed to the county secretary who is also the head of public service, the DCI wants the four to appear in their offices in Nairobi to assist and facilitate the agency with allegations of abuse of office.

    Those summoned are officers working in department of Finance and Accounting namely, Dominic Barare who is the Chief officer in the department of Finance and Accounting, Purity Nyamboga the Head of county treasury, Geoffrey Kiriago who is the Director Human Resource) and Brian Nyabeo the Acting payroll manager.

    In a letter which was signed by A Shuria of behalf of the Director of Criminal Investigations dated February 5, 2024 it read: “The office of the DCI is investigating an allegation of abuse of office contrary to Section 101 of the penal code. To facilitate our investigations kindly direct the following officers to appear at the DCI headquarters ECCU office first floor Block room 12 and record statements in relation to their said allegation”.

    The officers in questions are supposed to appear before the DCI between February 12 and February15, 2024.

    The officers were summoned two weeks after the county chief of staff Dennis Onsarigo resigned citing high level of corruption in the county government of Nyamira.

    Dennis Onsarigo Resignation

    In his resignation letter, Onsarigo had claimed that the Treasury department was riddled with rampant corruption and he had chosen to resign because he never wanted to be part of government which was embracing and glorifying corruption.

    In his resignation letter dated January 24 2024, a copy of which is in possession, Onsarigo narrates a number challenges he encountered in the course of discharging his duties as chief-of-staff before deciding to call it quits.

    The letter also exposes the rot in the county government of Nyamira which is run singlehandedly by the county boss.

    In the three-page letter addressed to the governor, Onsarigo outlined the social and economic evils which were being committed in the government which he wanted the governor to address but he had failed to heed to his advice.

    He cited the numerous complaints and allegations by parents from the county that whenever their children were seeking jobs in the county government, they had to part with bribes in order for them to secure the jobs, complaints which the governor had given a deaf ear.

    Onsarigo confessed that he had made efforts to meet the governor so that he can brief him about the challenges in his administration but the governor chose to ignore him.

    “As you may be aware, I have made several attempts, more than six times, to seek audience with you to discuss an elaborate plan on how best the office of the chief- of-staff would function in the execution of your manifesto while supporting other departments in a aligning their short and long plans largely drawing their strengths from the mother manifesto, (but) unfortunately, this did not materialise,” read the letter.

    “It’s unfortunate that my office had a chance to put the complete stop, the several instances where your security team including the drivers could go for months without their allowances still do despite the controller of the budget releasing the monies in their names but it ended up not getting paid,” he stated.

    “It was also my desire to continuously and in confidence brief you on the largely held view by the staff in the governor’s office /the county civil service that our office has suffered a deep mistrust, open rebellion and to the larger extent entertained the thought they were being used as a conduit of siphoning public funds. This widely held view that the donor funded projects monies, single sourcing of contracts among other lucrative projects are avenues to divert public funds have been of grave concern to me and a chance to dispel these baseless allegations would have been possible if you had given me the much sought audience for the last one year,” Onsarigo lamented.

    He also accused the governor of frustrating his efforts of improving service delivery and government relations. Onsarigo in his letter lamented that he had proposed the creation of the position of an administrator domiciled at the governor’s office, the position which was to serve the ever-ending concerns of dysfunctional office had greatly impacted on service delivery.

    “The deployment of advisers to respective departments also meant to increase the governor’s presence in the departments and bring to an end the long held view of underutilisation of staff in the governor’s office. Unfortunately, this just remained an idea”.

    The journalist also revealed that he had envisioned an end to the uncomfortable and embarrassing instances where the governor was forced to stop at a petrol station waiting for his official vehicle to be fuelled by an accounting officer who could not be reached on phone despite his ever ending steps of reprimanding of the officer.

    “This stands out as perhaps the most agonising and low moment I experienced as your chief-of-staff,” he told Governor Nyaribo in the letter.

    “It is extremely painful as well that a plan to put measures aimed at making your personal comfort and security my utmost priority came a cropper, plans including and not limited to making available for your use an alternative vehicle, an extra bodyguard because you have only been operating with one for more than five months, fatigue notwithstanding, fuel cards and resources for structured servicing and fuelling failed drastically in what appeared to be internally engineered and okayed strategy where money to be accrued from these services and interventions unfortunately placed your life and comfort at risk. It is regrettable!” he revealed and exposed the weakness of the governor and challenges he was undergoing in his administration.

    Onsarigo further revealed that despite the dedication and hard work from their team, it had become clear that the obstacles they were facing were beyond his immediate control and therefore his continued presence as the chief of staff was regrettably not conducive to the progressive they had desired.

    “I expressed my fears to you not once but severally that it will get into a point where I will be viewed as incompetent not because of incompetence sake but a regime unwilling to accommodate new and bold ideas and one that is captive to a past riddled with self-engineered setbacks”.

    It is now emerging that Onsarigo was imposed by Raila to the county government of Nyamira and that was why the governor had no space for him.
    Sources close to Nyaribo confided to us that the governor viewed Onsarigo as a spy for Raila and that was why he never allowed him to know more about his government.

    Ideally, the chief-of-staff is supposed to be the accounting officer in the governor’s office but the governor ignored Onsarigo and gave the mandate to Mwecha Nyasimi who is also a chief officer in the department of agriculture.

    In his ending remarks he said, “It is my hope that my departure will allow for a fresh perspective and renewed momentum towards achieving the shared goals that have driven us. Nyamira county remains my home and I shall come back in the near future to serve our people in a different capacity and under different circumstances”.

  • Dissecting Nyaribo’s ruthless rule in Nyamira

    Dissecting Nyaribo’s ruthless rule in Nyamira

    Nyamira governor Amos Nyaribo is ruling the county with an iron fist after he recently demoted more than 1000 employees to create room to employ and promote his sycophants.

    The move was also meant to tame officers allied to the late governor John Nyagarama and ODM politician who vowed to frustrate him after ascending to his current position.

    Nyaribo who is a member of the ANC party was the county’s deputy governor but rose to the top after Nyangarama’s demise spared employees close to members of his kitchen cabinet.

    He spared more than 200 loyal employees who got their July salaries in full and did not demote them despite their names featuring prominently on the list of those implicated in the irregular promotions.

    The move raised eyebrows within the community and political circles with claims that the demotions were driven by dirty politics, malice and nepotism.

    The demoted employees have since petitioned the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to probe matter and alleged looting of funds meant for development of projects.

    Nyaribo targeted top accountants and procurement officers who have vowed to expose the rot and embezzlement of county funds through fictitious claims during the 2020/2021 financial year.

    They accuse that authoritative governor of stealing Sh130 million meant for development projects through fake payments during the same financial year.

    Some officers were demoted because they allegedly paid bribes to get promotions or gave sexual favors to climb up the ladder but they questioned given opportunity to defend themselves instead of being condemned unheard.

    Other including the county government human resource director Shem Nyangau has already moved to the Labour court court to seek legal redress as he accused the county service public board of demoting him and further deducting his salary without his consent.

    But the Employment and Labour Relations Court has stopped the demotion of the employees after Justice Christine Baari, sitting in Kisumu, issued a stay order on Wednesday until the petition is heard and determined.

    Other petitioners include Lamech Machuki Nyariki, Lewis Oburu Nyaribo, Douglas Mecha Osoro and Dan Isaac Onyancha who accused Nyaribo’s administration of changing the terms of employment without allowing the affected workers the opportunity to be heard.

     

  • Inside Nyaribo’s mass demotion of county employees

    Inside Nyaribo’s mass demotion of county employees

    Business at the Nyamira County headquarters came to a stand still after Governor Amos Nyaribo released the names of staff members who were promoted through dubious means. The governor who was flanked by members of his kitchen cabinet exposed over 1,000 employees, mostly women, who were promoted after paying bribes or engaging in sexual relationships with top officials who worked with the late governor John Nyangarama.

    Nyaribo demoted all the staffers who benefited from the illegal and irregular promotions as his administration resorts to recovering all the money they earned through the illegal promotions. The recovery is set to start from the August salaries which will affect employees from all the 10 departments in Nyamira County.

    An audit report presented to the CECMs by the governor shows that all the illegal promotions were hurriedly done through computers and that there was no evidence of the relevant departments awarding the job grades to the affected workers.

    The report also revealed that most of the staff members earned higher grades without going through the requisite procedures as stipulated by the Kenya Human Resources Policies and Procedures Manual for the Public Service 2016.

    Nyaribo pointed out a case where nearly 150 employees earned more than two promotions in less than three years including a case where a female officer was promoted every year between 2016 to 2019 from job group K in March 2016 to job group L in 2017, job group N in October 2018 and to job group P in March 2019.

    The report further revealed a case where an officer who was serving in job group K in March 2016 jumped to Group L in October 2017, to Group N in January 2018 and to job group P in November 2018. Another member of staff serving in job group J in 2016 was also illegally promoted to job group L in January 2021 and hurriedly to job group N in February 2021.

    Governor Nyaribo told the  demoted employees to move to court if they were not satisfied with the verdict as he vowed not reverse the decision even if it means being voted out in August 2022 general election.

    Affected employees have, however, dismissed the demotions and plans to recover the money as they vow to challenge the decision by the governor in court after the county public service board also disowned the promotions it effected. Nyaribo was supported by a section of the MCAs led by Bomwagamo MCA Charles Barongo who gave the move a thumps up.

     

     

  • Nyamira MCAs call for probe into collapse of Assembly building

    Nyamira MCAs call for probe into collapse of Assembly building

    The leadership of the Nyamira County Assembly leadership is calling for investigations into the cause of the collapse of a building that is still under construction at the county headquarters.

    The nasty accident saw ten construction workers injured with three other workers who sustained critical injuries being admitted at Nyamira County Referral Hospital for two days.

    Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo visited the scene of crime where he called for calm, while the Assembly speaker Moffat Teya described the incident as an unfortunate occurrence in a County that is still constrained for office space.

    The shoddy project was the proposed County Assembly headquarters which went down after construction had progressed to the fourth floor.

    Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo [P/courtesy]
    Audit General’s Report showed that the Nyamira County assembly had awarded a contract to M/S Jetta Builders Limited to construct a six-floor office block at an inflated sum of Sh367 million.

    The contract which began on June 13, 2018 was expected to end on June 13, 2021, after 156 weeks as agreed on the contract.

    Physical verification on the progress of the project carried out in October 2019 showed that upto Sh44 million had been paid but the project was still far behind the schedule.

    Speaker Teya maintained that the main constructor must be investigated and amicable solution found after millions of taxpayers’ money had gone down the trenches with the collapsed building.

    “We task the Department of Public Works, particularly the project management and the entire team of engineers together with the contractor to expeditiously investigate and give a comprehensive report on this matter,” he said.

    Governor Nyaribo’s tenure at the county helm has been marred with controversies, accidents and waned relationship with the MCAs.

    The collapse of the Assembly offices also come at a time when the High Court has stopped the Nyamira County Assembly from vetting Deputy Governor nominee James Gesami for the post.

    This is the second time that vetting has failed even after Governor Nyaribo mended his bad relationship with the MCAs, majorly from the ODM party.

    Most of the ODM MCAs have been against Gesami’s nomination for the post but Nyaribo made a deal with them to allow him nominate Gesami.