Kitui’s embattled Finance CECM Peter Mwikya Kilonzo has dodged yet another political bullet after Speaker Kevin Kinengo Katisya declared two fiery petitions against him and his top officer legally dead on arrival.
In a charged afternoon plenary at the Kitui County Assembly on Wednesday , Speaker Kinengo ruled that the petitions—one calling for the impeachment of Mr. Kilonzo and the other seeking a motion of censure against Chief Officer for Finance and Revenue Mr. John Makau Kimwele both fronted by Reverend Musili Kauta , a human rights activists —failed to meet the constitutional and procedural threshold required for Assembly action. The petitions, filed on April 29 and May 6 respectively, accused the duo of a litany of serious allegations ranging from gross misconduct, financial misappropriation, obstruction of oversight, abuse of office, and misleading both the County Government and the public.
“The petitions in their current form do not meet the legal and procedural threshold required for consideration by this Assembly,” the Speaker ruled, citing Article 37 of the Constitution and Section 15 of the County Governments Act, 2012. Kinengo further clarified that the Assembly does not have the authority to discipline or remove a Chief Officer from office, effectively shielding Mr. Kimwele from any legislative consequences.
But for Peter Mwikya Kilonzo, this is far from his first close shave. Back in December 2024, a previous attempt to impeach him collapsed spectacularly on the Assembly floor when a motion filed by Hon. Jeremiah Mutua Musee failed to secure a seconder, leading to its automatic withdrawal under Standing Order No. 54(1). That motion, although supported by at least 15 MCAs, could not advance due to this critical procedural gap.
The accusations were equally damning—ranging from violations of the Public Finance Management Act, misuse of public funds, to nepotistic borehole allocations allegedly benefiting the CECM’s relatives.
Observers at the time branded the failed motion a “political assassination attempt that fizzled out,” while others described it as a masterclass in procedural escape. Despite the gravity of the allegations, Kilonzo walked away politically unscathed—shielded not by innocence, critics say, but by institutional inertia and poorly executed legal attacks.
Now, with this latest petition dismissed on legal technicalities, the pattern seems to repeat. Twice in less than a year, efforts to hold the Finance boss accountable have collapsed—not due to lack of concern, but due to poorly constructed processes and a failure to secure airtight procedural compliance. Some sources close to the Assembly suggest that Kilonzo’s deep entrenchment within Kitui’s political and fiscal systems has made him a hard target to remove, with allies protecting him from within.
Nonetheless, proponents of accountability are not retreating. Insiders indicate that fresh efforts are underway to refile the petitions—this time with better legal structuring, more signatures, and a clearer path through the procedural maze of the Assembly.
For now, Peter Mwikya Kilonzo remains firmly in office—not because the allegations have vanished, but because the Assembly has once again failed to properly fire its political ammunition. Whether by strategy or incompetence, the result is the same: the Finance Minister is still standing.
But as political temperatures rise and frustrations within the public grow, the real question now looms—how long can he keep surviving?
Get Every Twist First — Only via www.channel15news.co.ke
