Ababu Namwamba survives impeachment as collegues refuse to participate in vote

Runyenjes MP Cecily Mbarire is a vociferous part of the Jubilee Coalition juggernaut but her actions helped save Ababu Namwamba from impeachment.

Ababu just about survived impeachment in a vote Thursday at parliament buildings, simply because Mbarire and Mwatate MP Andrew Mwadime chose to abstain from voting.

Mbarire and Mwadime, if they voted in favour of the impeachment would have had Namwamba ousted as chairman of the house Public Accounts Committee, a powerful Committee in the house.

Instead, they chose not to, with Ababu surviving by 14 votes to 13 in the 27 member Committee.

13 members of the Committee chose to vote out Namwamba over bribery and corruption allegations but with Mbarire and Mwadime out and two other members missing the vote, it meant that the 9 votes to save Namwamba were enough to save him.

House rules state that there must be a majority number for an impeachment vote to pass through, which means if 14 had voted for his ouster, he would have been dead and gone.

And he will be thankful to Mbarire, who also doubles up as his assistant in the Committee, as on any other day, expectation would be that she votes and especially against Namwamba knowing the political importance attached to the ouster.

"It was surprising that she did not vote. I am not sure if it was by principal or what reasons she had," Michael Njenga a political analyst said.

"I can imagine it being a lost chance from a Jubilee perspective but I suppose, being his assistant helped him avoid the chop," he added.

It is not yet clear what will happen next in the important Committee, and its future, now that the ouster has failed. Will they work as normal or will it be trouble in paradise?