Boni Khalwale: We wanted Governor Eric Mutai impeached but he escaped
By Joel Masibo, August 30, 2025Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has broken his silence after Kericho Governor Eric Mutai survived his second impeachment attempt on Friday, August 29, 2025 at the Senate.
Taking to his social pages on Friday evening, Khalwale revealed that he and 15 other legislators wanted the Kericho boss out of office, but he escaped.
”16 of us Senators wanted Gov Mutai to pay for the rot in Kericho, but he has escaped. 16 Yes, 26 No and 1 abstained. Sorry, the great people of Kericho. I did the best I could for you,” Khalwale said.
After three days of deliberations in the House, the question that confronted senators was on the voting at the County Assembly and whether a third majority was achieved during the voting process. So contentious was the issue of the process of voting and who actually voted that the House failed to delve into substantive matters, leading to the impeachment at the County Assembly.
The MCAs had filed three charges against the governor: violation of the Constitution and other laws, abuse of office and gross misconduct.
But the question as to whether voting took place and the number of MCAs who voted lingered. The governor called nearly 20 witnesses, including 18 MCAs and an IT expert, to defend him.
The County Assembly summoned six witnesses, while the Senate resorted to an independent expert from the ICT Authority. However, none of these expert witnesses cleared the doubts on who actually voted and whether the threshold was achieved.
Senators votes
A total of 26 senators voted against the motion brought to the floor of the House by the Majority Leader, Aaron Cheruiyot, arguing that the voting in the County Assembly was unverifiable and thus unable to tell whether voting actually took place. A total of 16 senators said the threshold was achieved and thus supported the motion, while one senator abstained.
In his contribution to the motion, Nyamira Senator Okongo Omogeni described the electronic voting system, which the county installed just a day before the impeachment proceedings of the governor, as a special-purpose vehicle designed to take the governor home.
“I have sat here for three days, but I am unable to understand this system. I have listened to experts, but all they did was create a reasonable doubt in my mind. The doubt as to whether 33 MCAs actually voted for the motion at the County Assembly,” he said.