The Senate proceedings into the impeachment of Kericho Governor Dr. Erick Mutai took an unexpected turn when a Member of the County Assembly (MCA), Hillary Kibet, alleged that he had been offered money and foreign trips in exchange for supporting the Motion to remove the Governor from office.

Kibet, appearing before the Senate as a witness in support of Governor Mutai told the House that he had been promised Ksh.200,000 as well as trips to Dubai and Rwanda in an attempt to lure him into backing the Motion. He insisted that he did not participate in the voting process and expressed surprise that his name appeared among the 33 MCAs recorded as having voted in favour of the Governor’s impeachment.

The witness cited a telephone audio recording, which he claimed was between himself and the mover of the Motion, MCA Weldon Rogony. In the alleged conversation, Kibet said Rogony told him that he had voted on his behalf during the exercise. According to Kibet, Rogony also offered him the chairmanship of a Committee in the Assembly if he threw his weight behind the Motion.

However, these claims were dismissed by the County Assembly’s legal team which described them as fabricated stories aimed at shielding the Governor from accountability. The lawyers told the Senate that the mobile phone number presented by Kibet did not belong to Rogony, insisting that no such conversation ever took place.

Senators, while interrogating the matter, questioned why Kibet chose to focus entirely on the integrity of the voting system rather than addressing the substantive grounds that had been advanced for the Governor’s removal. They also raised concerns about the propriety of secretly recording a colleague, noting that such an action would contravene the Data Protection Act.

Lawmakers further pressed Kibet on why he failed to utilise the options available to him under the Standing Orders. If he was unwilling to back the Motion, they argued, he could have formally voted against it or abstained. His decision not to participate at all was, in their view, an abdication of his constitutional responsibility as an elected representative.

The session took a lighter turn when another witness, MCA Amos Kimtai, requested to make his submission in the local dialect, saying it would help him express himself more clearly. Temporary Speaker Senator Veronica Maina overruled the request, directing him to use either English or Kiswahili as the official languages of Parliament. Despite some Senators supporting his plea, the ruling was upheld.

Kimtai went on to admit that he had spoken to Governor Mutai prior to the vote and assured him of his intention not to support the Motion. Under cross-examination by the Assembly’s legal team, the MCA contradicted himself on several issues, including the time when he swore his affidavit and whether he possessed a smartphone capable of accessing the internet.

This inconsistency prompted Senators to raise questions about the reliability of his evidence. Nonetheless, Kimtai stood firm, maintaining that he did not cast a vote in the impeachment proceedings.

The Governor’s defence team also presented a group of fourteen other MCAs, who delivered their testimonies collectively. They echoed the positions outlined in their sworn affidavit, all denying that they had voted in favour of the Governor’s removal. The witnesses criticised the new electronic voting system introduced in the County Assembly chamber, arguing that they had not been trained on how to use the devices. According to them, the system was deliberately designed to disadvantage certain members, which led them to withhold their participation. They claimed to have suspected malice in the process and insisted they were unfairly recorded as having voted.

Earlier in the day, Senate Speaker Amason Kingi informed the House that the Senate Clerk had received an expert report from the ICT Authority on the electronic voting system used in the Kericho County Assembly. The report, he said, had been officially submitted on the evening of 28th August 2025 at 9:35 pm.

Speaker Kingi ruled that the experts from the ICT Authority would be invited to present their findings before the Senate, ahead of closing statements from both parties. “The Report by the experts from the ICT Authority was submitted to the Office of the Clerk of the Senate yesterday, 28th August, 2025 at 9:35 pm. I shall allow the ICT Authority experts to present the Report to the Senate before the closing statements by the Parties, after which Honourable Senators and the Parties will be given an opportunity to ask questions or seek clarifications on the Report,” he stated.

The Senate hearings are scheduled to continue this afternoon at 2:30 pm, with the lawmakers expected to cast their vote on the Governor’s fate later in the evening. The proceedings remain highly charged, with both the Governor’s defence and the Assembly’s representatives trading sharp arguments over the credibility of witnesses and the integrity of the voting process that led to the impeachment.