Alfred Mutua


Alfred Nganga Mutua is a Kenyan politician who is the governor of Machakos County. Mutua was the Kenyan government spokesman before resigning in 2012 to run for the office of Machakos County Governor.
He was born in Masii, Machakos County. He has lived, studied and worked in Kenya, the United States, Australia and the United Arab Emirates and has been a businessman, lecturer, civil servant and politician.

Education

He was educated at Dagoretti High School and at Jamhuri High School. He obtained his BA in Journalism from Whitworth College in the United States and his MSc in Communication from Eastern Washington University. He received his doctorate in communication and media from the University of Western Sydney in Australia.

Family life

Alfred Mutua was married to Josephine Thitu Maundu on July 1, 2000. Alfred and Josephine were officially separated on August 19, 2015. In 2014, Alfred Mutua lodged a legal tussle over custody of their three children with his estranged wife Josephine. This was also followed by a court battle with the estranged wife over property.

Civil servant

Government spokesperson and public communications secretary

Mutua was appointed the first official government spokesperson of Kenya in June 2004 by then President Mwai Kibaki. He served in that capacity until 3 September 2012. He was also the public communications secretary and head of the Office of Public Communications in the Office of the President. Under his stewardship in this office, Mutua established a public campaign to promote patriotism, Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya. Mutua is also remembered for denying the existence of deaths resulting from drought in Kenya in 2011. This act of refuting previously reported media reports earned him the reputation of being the "Government Spin Doctor". He is also remembered for running a Nairobi beautification program which included replacing trees and shrubs with arrangements of pebbles and flowers along the city's highways.
Mutua was also mandated with a couple of presidential tasks, among the notable ones was to chair a task force that was charged with ensuring that Mombasa was ready for the 2007 IAAF athletics championships held in Mombasa.

Political career

Mutua became the first governor of Machakos County, which is one of the 47 counties established under the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and was sworn in on 27 March 2013. He was elected on a Wiper Democratic Movement Party ticket alongside Mr. Bernard Kiala as his Deputy Governor.
In August 2016, Mutua formerly launched a political party called Maendeleo Chap Chap Party. This was a culmination of several months of speculation among the Kenyan media and general public that Mutua had abandoned Wiper Democratic Movement – the party that had sponsored him for his election as Machakos Governor in 2013. Mutua's action of launching and supporting a political party other than the one that sponsored him was considered controversial. He was expected to vacate office and seek a fresh mandate as Machakos County Governor; being sponsored by his new political party in line with Kenyan electoral laws. When Mutua did not vacate office to seek fresh re-election, Wiper Democratic Movement Party's disciplinary committee found him culpable of launching and supporting another political party. The disciplinary committee deemed him to have resigned from the party.
In November 2016, a notice to impeach Mutua was filed in the Machakos County Assembly by a member Mr. Stephen Muthuka. This was after the motion notice was signed by 46 out of 59 Machakos county assembly members – meeting the two thirds threshold for an impeachment motion to progress. Included among the reasons for the impeachment motion were alleged breach of the Kenyan constitution, procurement laws and devolution laws.
Several days before Mutua's impeachment motion at the Machakos County Assembly, over half of the assembly's 59 members travelled out of the country in what was considered to be a tactical move for scuttling the impeachment process. In the absence of 32 members of the county assembly, the impeachment motion was debated with Mutua being represented by his lawyer. When the final vote was taken 26 out of 27 members of the assembly voted to impeach Mutua. This however was too few votes to legally impeach Mutua as Governor of Machakos County since the threshold of 40 members of the county assembly voting in favor of the motion was not attained.
On June 10, 2017, reports came up that he never formally resign from Wiper Democratic Movement before forming his Maendeleo Chap Chap Party. This was a day after an IEBC Tribunal nullified the candidature of his main challenger for the 2017 mid term election.
The High Court reinstated Wavinya Ndeti as a candidate in the general election.

2017 gubernatorial election

Mutua contested the Machakos County Governor position for a second term at the 2017 general election against Wavinya Ndeti and his former Deputy – Bernard Kiala. Mutua was declared winner amid claims of election rigging. This resulted in a protracted election petition process that saw high court judge Aggrey Muchelule initially Mutua's election. In June 2018, The court of appeal bench comprising judges W. Ouko, M. Warsame, and S. Gatembu Kairu nullified the election of Alfred Mutua. Subsequently, Alfred Mutua contested the ruling of the Court of Appeal at the Supreme court. This legal contest was considered an epic battle at the Kenyan apex court. The Supreme Court of Kenya would later on December 21, 2018, overturn the Court of Appeal ruling to reinstate Mutua's gubernatorial election win.

Stewardship of public funds

Mutua's stewardship of public funds as Governor for Machakos County saw the Auditor General raise numerous queries on the propriety of public expenditure throughout his first term.
In the financial year ending June 2013, the Auditor General observed improprieties in Mutua's government which included unbanked revenue, irregular recruitment of employees, unexplained confidential expenditures and unprocedural procurement among other problems. The Auditor General Report for the financial year ending June 30, 2016 cited numerous instances where the Mutua led Machakos County Executive denied the independent oversight body access to crucial documents required for the audit process.