Impeached Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza has rebuked her successor, Governor Mutuma Methingia, in a strongly worded statement and threatened to send him back to the prisons where he once worked before she had picked him as her deputy.
This comes after the governor came under fire from lawyer Mugambi Imanyara following the county government’s move to appoint renowned Meru businessman Alhaji Mwendia as the county spokesperson on April 23, 2025.
According to Imanyara, Alhaji was not supposed to be given any county seat at all for many reasons, including his age, and his appointment to a senior county post meant that the governor was now running the county as he pleased.
“Methingia, I warn you that if I see Alhaji passing here with a car bearing county plates, I will write to the EACC and call for your arrest and that of Alhaji.”
Echoing this, Kawira reposted the video of the celebrated Meru lawyer on her Facebook page on Monday, April 28, 2025, and lambasted the governor in strong words, vowing that she will very soon oversee his return to the prisons.
Kawira, who did not mince her words, even labelled Mutuma a fool and insisted that although he may think he will be sent back to prisons to supervise inmates as before, she shared that this time round he would instead be going there as an inmate, suggesting that she would have already initiated legal action against him.
“Bonoko, utarudi prison mahali nilikutoa si kuchunga mabusu but kuchungwa. Msaliti,” she posted on Facebook.
New CECMs
Newly appointed County Spokesperson Alhaji Mwendia, who also serves as the current DEP (Mbus) Party Meru County Secretary General, was handed the role just a day before Governor Mutuma swore in the new County Executive Committee Members (CECMs).
The notable nominees who were sworn in included Isaac Kinoti Marete, who was handed the Lands and Public Works docket; CPA Monica Kaithiori Kathono, who was given the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, and Dr. Dennis Muriungi Mugambi, who was sworn in to head the Health Services docket.
Others included Reverend Carol Karea Kaberia, who was given the Trade docket, Dr. Esther Rukunga for Education, Advocate Baptista Kanyaru Muriki for the Water docket, Elias Murega for Youth, and Janaro Gatangugi for Agriculture.
This came after a vigorous vetting exercise of the nine persons that was carried out on Thursday, April 17, 2025, by the Select Committee led by Assembly Speaker Ayub Bundi.
During the swearing-in event, Governor Methingia expressed confidence in the nominees, saying they were well-experienced in the various dockets they were chosen for, insisting that he was optimistic they were going to thrive.
He shared that they had diverse backgrounds in the selected ministries and mentioned that the experience they brought was exactly what Meru needed to rekindle and swiftly implement his administration’s agendas.
“The new CECMs bring with them a wealth of experience, deep understanding, and professional expertise in their respective fields. Their diverse backgrounds and commitment to service will be instrumental in rekindling and accelerating the implementation of my administration’s agenda across all departments,” he posted on Facebook.
However, the opposition, spearheaded by vocal politicians like lawyer Mugambi, has been quick to poke holes in the nominations, saying the positions were handed out unfairly and that the governor followed no procedure whatsoever in making the appointments.
According to lawyer Mugambi, Mutuma lacks the know-how and experience needed to run such an office, even saying that he was dishing out seats based purely on loyalty during Kawira’s impeachment rather than on the merit of qualifications.
“What I see is that Methingia lacks experience in how a government runs; his government has become one of grabbing positions because you can claim them. Anyone who claims they helped him get the seat then gets a nomination. No procedures and processes,” he said in a video by Nyambene TV.
Further, Imanyara claimed that the nominees had, even before their approval and swearing-in, taken county government vehicles and started using them, saying they had no letters of appointment or approval, which, he added, showed that the county was being run very recklessly.
“You go to the county government only to realise that all the nominees went and took county cars and assigned them to themselves for daily operations without any letters of appointment to any office.”