Orwoba out of Senate after court upheld suspension
Today, before being removed from the House, Orwoba apologised to her colleagues adding that it was not her intention to ridicule the House.
Nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba will remain out of the Senate for 79 days following the court ruling that upheld the Senate’s decision to suspend her for six months.
The suspension kickstarted yesterday after the Senate returned from the two-month recess.
The Committee’s decision will now kick in next month when the Senate returns from the long recess.
Today while in the Senate before being removed from the House, Orwoba apologised to her colleagues adding that it was not her intention to ridicule the House.
“I offer my apologies to the Members of this House and the Members of Staff who I offended. It was not my intention to make it seem like I’m trying to ridicule this Upper House,” she stated.
This comes after Last month, the high court upheld the Senate’s decision to suspend Orwoba until May 1 over what the Senate termed gross misconduct.
In his ruling, Justice Lawrence Mugambi concurred with the senate that the senator was given a chance to appear before the Powers and Privileges Committee to defend herself but snubbed the summon.
“Senator Gloria Orwoba was provided an opportunity to appear and state her case, presumably even raising all manner of preliminary issues before the Senate the Powers and Privileges Committee but she opted not to participate and walked away,” Mugambi stated in his ruling.
Mugambi dismissed the petition noting that the nominated Senator’s rights to fair hearing and administrative action were not infringed.
In August last year, the Powers and Privileges Committee recommended that the nominated Senator be suspended for failing to appear before them to substantiate claims she made against her colleagues on sexual harassment and corruption.
Noting the gravity of her charges, the committee recommended that she be discharged from the house for the remainder of the second session of the 3rd Senate.
In their recommendations, they also stated that she be denied access to the senate precincts and the use or even enjoyment of facilities provided to the lawmakers during the suspension period.
On her social media, Orwoba claimed that the Senate decided to punish her for declining sexual advances from senior senate officials.
She also alleged that some of her colleagues were corruptly earning per diems in exchange for sexual favors and for their legislative agenda to sail through.
During the suspension period, the lawmaker will not draw any committee allowances, mileage as well as any other activity of the House.
