Impeached Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza has broken her silence for the first time since the High Court upheld her impeachment on Friday, March 14, 2025, taking aim at her former deputy—now the new governor—whom she branded a puppet of political cartels.
Speaking in a live stream on her Facebook page on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, Kawira decried the stranglehold of cartels on Meru politics, insisting that influential power brokers orchestrated her ousting simply because she refused to dance to their tune.
According to her, the cartels despised her for rejecting their backroom deals to embezzle public funds, and now they were backing Governor Mutuma M’ethingia because he was a pliable figure they could control.
“Another reason I was impeached is because they wanted a puppet governor—one like those scruffy little puppet dogs you see trotting about in the streets, something that doesn’t have a mind of its own and can be led by the leash. And they were stunned because I wasn’t that. My purpose was to safeguard Meru’s money, and so they schemed ruthlessly to send me packing so they could install a puppet governor—just like the one they’ve got now. I even heard them saying they wanted someone who merely sits in an office signing papers—not a leader like me who actually went into the county to oversee projects. You even heard Senator Kathuri himself say it,” she said
Kawira, who had previously served as the county’s Woman Representative before clinching the governorship, also pointed out that the same cartels had long held leadership positions but had spectacularly failed to deliver any tangible development for the people.
She argued that, in their desperation to maintain the status quo, they preferred a docile leader—one who would prioritise their personal gain over public service—which is why they rushed to swear in her former deputy, knowing he would be easy to manipulate and oblivious to financial misdeeds within the county.
“Their agenda has never been about development; it has always been about getting rid of Mwangaza so they could usher in their own puppet—one who won’t bat an eyelid when public funds mysteriously disappear. That has been their master plan all along,” she added.
Kawira, speaking with raw frustration about her short-lived tenure, went on to list twelve more reasons why her detractors had been unrelenting, insisting that every single one stemmed from their self-serving interests.
She cited one as their growing fear that she would emerge as the most formidable political force in Meru by the 2027 elections, prompting them to get rid of her before she could solidify her dominance and trounce them at the ballot box.
According to Kawira, her impeachment was the handiwork of the political elite, not the ordinary citizens, and she maintained that she still commanded overwhelming grassroots support because of her tangible contributions to the people.
“The fear is real, especially because of the development projects. Every single one of them eyeing leadership in 2027 sees me as a force to reckon with. They know I have achieved so much while they have done nothing, and they are terrified that I will win against them. They couldn’t risk waiting until 2027 because they knew exactly what would happen. So they decided it was best to eliminate me now. But let me tell them this—come 2027, I will be there, and I will be breathing fire,” she added.
Respect
Kawira, who rose to power in the agriculturally rich county as an independent candidate, reminded her opponents that she was elected by the people, and to undermine her was to disrespect the very voters who had placed their trust in her.
She accused the county’s new political leadership of being more preoccupied with jostling for power than addressing the real concerns of Meru’s citizens, arguing that their fight against her was purely motivated by greed.
According to her, impeachment was meant to silence her, but those banking on her retreat were in for a rude awakening as she had no intention of going quietly.
“I honestly wonder if they are incapable of doing anything else. Shetani ashindwe! I am not leaving Meru. Meru is shielded by God, and it has its governor, and that governor is me. By doing all this, you are not just disrespecting me—you are disrespecting every single person who voted for me to lead them,” she says.