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Nakuru Senator Tabitha Karanja Keroche is now calling for the impeachment of governor Susan Kihika over allegations of abuse of office and mismanagement of county funds.

The call by the senator comes in the wake of a protracted row over the management of the War Memorial hospital in Nakuru that has now taken a new twist leading to a bitter exchange of words.

Senator Keroche has castigated the move after the county government took over the private health facility noting that the management is operating under intimidation and threats from Kihika’s administration.

“I strongly condemn the attack on the hospital by the County government of Nakuru. This shows that we have a governor who is so inhuman and never follows the rule of law and order and never respects the courts which is an arm of the government. What Nakuru county residents have seen,” she said.

The Environment and Land Court on Tuesday ordered the Nakuru county government give back the facility to the management of the hospital.

Hospital workers out

Justice Millicent Odeny asked the local police commander to ensure that the hospital workers who had been evicted by the county government resume work.

The judge said governor Kihika and disobeyed court orders requiring her tom interfere with the running of the hospital.

“The orders are further extended by this court. The court directs the county commander it is obeyed and implemented,” she ruled.

Addressing the press in Naivasha on Wednesday, Keroche downplayed allegations of forgery levelled against the hospital’s management in renewal of the lease of the 25 acre piece of land on which the hospital sits, adding that the hospital legally acquired the lease extension in accordance with the law.

Directors of the embattled hospital and ministry of lands officials were last Friday arrested and arraigned in a Nakuru court over allegations of fraudulently obtaining documents for the renewal of a lease title that expired in 2021.

According to Tabitha,the forceful takeover of the hospital by the county government has led to negligence and untold suffering with one patient said to have lost his life on Wednesday morning as a result of the ongoing tussle.

She has accused the governor of contempt of court for defying an order by Justice Odeny of the Environment and Lands Court directing Nakuru County police boss Samuel Ndanyi to ensure staff at the hospital resume work.

The court order followed a raid by the county security officers at 3 am Tuesday morning forcing out staff who were on duty directing patients to seek medical services in other health facilities.
The raid, according to the Senator, has eroded investor-confidence putting the county at risk of losing economically.

“Instead of supporting local investors and focusing on attracting more health investors from the private sector, she is ordering the arrest of the War Memorial Hospital investors on false allegations,” she said.