Last Thurs­day, August 22nd, Meru Gov­er­nor Kawira Mwangaza, embroiled in con­tro­ver­sy, shared a tri­umphant mes­sage on her Face­book page: ‘Kabati kabati kaende kaende #MbeuyaN­gai #Kumi­Bi­laBreak So help me God,’ which trans­lates to ‘Onward with­out a break, with God’s help for ten years.’ This post came just a day after the High Court sus­pend­ed her impeach­ment, which the Sen­ate had rat­i­fied the pre­vi­ous day. The Sen­ate had pre­vi­ous­ly thwart­ed two oth­er attempts to impeach her. In this third impeach­ment effort, she faced accu­sa­tions of gross con­sti­tu­tion­al vio­la­tions, gross mis­con­duct, and abuse of office.

Gov­er­nor Kawira’s impeach­ment dra­ma offers pro­found lead­er­ship and gov­er­nance lessons. First­ly, Mwangaza’s impeach­ment under­scores the para­mount impor­tance of account­abil­i­ty and trans­paren­cy in lead­er­ship. The intense polit­i­cal machi­na­tions that led to her ouster under­mine trans­paren­cy and account­abil­i­ty. Ulti­mate­ly, lead­ers must be account­able to the peo­ple. Even in the midst of this ongo­ing dra­ma, the County’s elect­ed lead­ers must con­tin­ue deliv­er­ing ser­vices to the peo­ple.  Whether you sup­port or are opposed to the Governor’s impeach­ment, we can agree that this inces­sant polit­i­cal dra­ma dis­ad­van­tages the peo­ple of Meru.

Sec­ond­ly, integri­ty is the bedrock of effec­tive lead­er­ship. The ero­sion of pub­lic con­fi­dence in Gov­er­nor Mwangaza due to per­ceived or actu­al laps­es in integri­ty serves as a stark reminder that lead­ers can­not afford to com­pro­mise on eth­i­cal stan­dards. This les­son res­onates deeply in the realm of envi­ron­men­tal con­ser­va­tion, where deci­sions must be made with a long-term view, pri­or­i­tiz­ing the well-being of the envi­ron­ment and future gen­er­a­tions over short-term gains. When lead­ers act with integri­ty, they build trust and ensure that their actions are aligned with the greater good.

Third­ly, the impeach­ment process against Mwangaza was not the result of iso­lat­ed efforts but a col­lec­tive action by the Meru Coun­ty Assem­bly. This col­lec­tive effort demon­strates the pow­er that com­mu­ni­ties and groups hold in hold­ing lead­ers account­able. In the con­text of envi­ron­men­tal chal­lenges, this les­son is par­tic­u­lar­ly rel­e­vant. Col­lec­tive action is essen­tial to com­bat issues like cli­mate change and envi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion. Just as the assem­bly’s uni­fied stance led to Mwangaza­’s impeach­ment, a unit­ed glob­al effort is nec­es­sary to dri­ve mean­ing­ful envi­ron­men­tal change.

Fourth­ly, Gov­er­nor Mwangaza’s impeach­ment serves as a stark reminder of the fragili­ty of polit­i­cal pow­er. Pow­er, if mis­used or tak­en for grant­ed, can be swift­ly revoked. This fragili­ty is mir­rored in the envi­ron­men­tal domain, where the del­i­cate bal­ance of ecosys­tems can be eas­i­ly dis­rupt­ed by care­less or exploita­tive actions. As such, lead­ers must use their pow­er to pre­serve and pro­tect not to exploit for short term gain.

Fifth, the recur­ring impeach­ments in Meru high­light the crit­i­cal need for eth­i­cal lead­er­ship. Lead­ers who pri­or­i­tize per­son­al gain over the well-being of their com­mu­ni­ty or envi­ron­ment are bound to face resis­tance and even­tu­al down­fall. Eth­i­cal lead­er­ship is not just about avoid­ing cor­rup­tion; it is about mak­ing deci­sions that pri­or­i­tize the long-term health and pros­per­i­ty of the com­mu­ni­ty and the envi­ron­ment. In the envi­ron­men­tal con­text, this means lead­ers must pri­or­i­tize sus­tain­abil­i­ty over short-term prof­its, ensur­ing that their actions ben­e­fit both cur­rent and future generations.

Gov­er­nor Mwangaza­’s repeat­ed impeach­ments high­light a cycle of unre­solved issues in Meru, rem­i­nis­cent of a fes­ter­ing wound. With­out deep, sys­temic reforms in Kenya, such cycles can only wors­en. Meru’s polit­i­cal and gov­er­nance chal­lenges require more than judi­cial inter­ven­tion — they need gen­uine dia­logue and long-term solu­tions. True sus­tain­abil­i­ty demands pro­found change to ensure last­ing stability.

In 2023, the Nation­al Syn­dem­ic Dis­eases Con­trol Coun­cil (NSDCC) sur­vey revealed Meru as hav­ing the high­est rate of teenage preg­nan­cies in Kenya, with pover­ty, parental neglect, and FGM as sig­nif­i­cant con­trib­u­tors. This under­scores that our lead­ers in Meru are part of a bro­ken sys­tem that courts alone can­not fix to pro­tect these vul­ner­a­ble com­mu­ni­ties. Per­haps inter­ven­tion by Nchuri Ncheke is nec­es­sary, reflect­ing the Meru say­ing, ‘Agicu­uria ta kireere nai­ji uria aka­reera’- He who choos­es to hang him­self as a bat knows how he will float through the air. It’s time for Meru lead­ers to con­front real­i­ties. Pam­ba­neni na hali yenu! Think green, act green!