Isiolo Governor Abdi Guyo when he appeared before the Senate in Nairobi on November 14, 2024.
The beleaguered Isiolo Governor, Abdi Guyo, has a date with the Senators from Tuesday next week, which threatens to seal his fate.
As he prepares to defend himself, he is well aware that his relationship with the Senate might well be beyond repair due to his run-ins with the House.
The former Nairobi County Assembly Majority Leader has snubbed most House committees to which he has been invited to shed light on various happenings in Isiolo County more than five times, and has had a frosty relationship with the Senate as a result.
Sources within the Senate have revealed that the senators are preparing to demonstrate their raw constitutional power over him. Speaker Amason Kingi has scheduled a special plenary session on Tuesday, July 8, and Wednesday, July 9, 2025, to hear the charges.
The County Assembly of Isiolo on Thursday last week impeached Mr Guyo on three charges of gross violation of the Constitution and other laws, abuse of office and gross misconduct.
Only two of the 18 County Assembly members who took part in the vote declined to endorse the charges.
The ward representatives accused the governor of failing to deliver an annual state of the county address for three years he has been in office, employing a bloated workforce, including 36 advisors in the office of the governor and 31 chief officers, yet the county has only six departments and two deputy county secretaries.
The Daily Nation has compiled a list of occasions on which Mr Guyo has clashed with various Senate committees, blatantly snubbing some invitations and, on one occasion, being fined Sh500,000 as stipulated in the Standing Order.
The impeached governor had such a frosty relationship with the Senate that when the powerful County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) visited the county last year, he was nowhere to be seen. He was also accused of directing senior staff to leave and locked senators out of the county headquarters.
After the visit, CPAC chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang declared Isiolo County a crime scene.
Isiolo Governor Abdi Guyo.
"We have declared Isiolo a crime scene because there is nothing we have seen that seems to be working. Being a crime scene, we will be calling on the EACC (Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission) to come here, the office of the Auditor General, and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to do what they do best," the Committee said.
The expectation, given that the committee is a quasi-judicial body, was that the Governor would cooperate with it but instead a few days later at a public function in Isiolo, he dared the Senate, declaring that he has discretion on whether or not to honour the senate summons.
"I did not deliberately decide not to appear before this committee since there were Gen Z protests on the said date that I was set to appear. My staff feared for their lives," Mr Guyo said last year.
During the meeting of the Committee on Finance and Budget in October last year, Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale offered Mr Guyo some advice which has since proved prophetic.
Dr Khalwale warned the governor that his contempt for the Senate could land him in serious political trouble.
"Do you appreciate the fact that this Senate holds your fate in its hands?” Dr Khalwale posed to the governor during a tense meeting.
“The level of impunity that you have demonstrated towards the Senate will fall on you as governor. I’m sure you know of the events that took place in the last few days," Dr Khalwale added.
Dr Khalwale was drawing parallels on the possible fate of the governor and the impeachment of Mr Rigathi Gachagua as deputy President that had just taken place.
"We will not allow you to treat Isiolo like a private property. If you must apologise, apologise and subject yourself to oversight and accountability," the Kakamega Senator said.
Dr Khalwale comments painted the overall picture of frustrations the Senate and its committees have had to endure as they tried to subject Mr Guyo to accountability.
On May 19, this year, Mr Guyo was forced to pay the Senate Sh500, 000 for having ignored a number of summons to appear before the County Public Accounts Committee.
Isiolo Governor Abdi Guyo when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Investments and Special Funds in Nairobi on May 15, 2025.
Before this, the Committee on Labour and Social Welfare had also fined him Sh500,000 after he ignored summons to appear to address allegations of recruitment irregularities within his county government.
The committee has also invoked the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act and directed the Inspector General of Police to arrest and present the governor before the Committee to provide the information requested by the Senate.
The matter was of concern forcing Speaker Kingi to issue an official communication to the House in response to a statement made by Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo.
“The conduct of the governor not only undermines the rule of law but obstructs the Senate from discharging its role as the protector of counties under Article 96(1) of the Constitution and the primary organ of oversight on the use of public funds by county governments under Article 96(3) of the Constitution. This is not acceptable. It cannot be allowed to continue,” Mr Kingi said in his communication to the House.
Political witch-hunt
The Speaker directed all the committees that had issued summons to the governor, who failed to appear, to liaise with the Inspector-General of Police with the utmost urgency. He required the Inspector-General of Police to produce the governor before the respective committees on a date and at a time to be determined.
Governor Guyo, former MCA for Kayole Matopeni in Nairobi, has on his part accused the Senate of political witch-hunt.
The brewing legal-political storm has finally hit home, serving up a seismic event that threatens to dislodge Governor Guyo from the top seat.
Interviews with the residents of Isiolo and with people close to the embattled Governor paint a picture of a man who has spent his tenure racking up enemies. And it seems he will do whatever it takes to deal with those who oppose him.
Following the impeachment of the governor, residents took to the streets to celebrate. Earlier, heavy police presence had kept another group away from the assembly.
Isiolo Governor Abdi Guyo when he appeared before the Senate in Nairobi on November 14, 2024.
In one such appearances in May, Senator Kajwang told him, "I don’t want stories; give me evidence." His absence from this oversight session was nearly combative and entirely noncompliant; it was in no way an homage to either the Senate or its purported powers of oversight.
He’s accused of running a bloated payroll that supposedly included ghost workers, and a limit-busting number of advisors—36, when the cap is supposed to be 3.
"You cannot intimidate me, Senator Ledama (ole Kina). I was not elected to be intimidated by you. Vitisho peleka Narok (take your threats to Narok)," he told the Narok Senator in one such exchange.
He is also accused of making sexist remarks at his Senator Fatuma Dullo, which drew not only the wrath of the House but also that of the residents of Isiolo.
The incident is alleged to have occurred on June 1, 2025, during the Madaraka Day celebrations in Oldonyiro, Isiolo County.
Senate majority leader Aron Cheruiyot led the senate in condemning the sexist remark noting that ‘any leader who watched his (Guyo’s) remarks was terribly embarrassed’, terming it as sexual violence against senator Dullo.
He noted that she was targeted for being at the forefront for demanding transparency and accountability.
Kitui Senator Kioo Wambua condemned the utterances noting that an attack on Senator Dullo is an attack on all senators.
Nominated Senator Hezena Lemaletian noted that Senator Dullo is a trailblazer whom many girls look at as role model, noting that the utterances were a violation of chapter six.
These remarks not only deepened the rift between Mr Guyo and Ms Dullo but also galvanised public and institutional outrage, with the Isiolo County Assembly citing them as a breach of the Leadership and Integrity Act and the Public Officer Ethics Act in the impeachment motion.
Further the governor is accused of failure to deliver the Annual State of the County Address for three years, violated the County Governments Act.
His refusal to appear before the Senate Standing Committee on Health, as noted in the same report, to the Senators reinforced perceptions of arrogance.
As the Senate prepares to hear his case on July 8 and 9, 2025, Governor Guyo’s fate hangs in the balance.
All eyes on the senate sits to listen to the accusations it will be confronted with some on issues it has largely pronounced itself on.
And as the Governor prepares his defence, many agree that he is doing so from a position of weakness and that only the senators can decide whether or not he keeps his job.
