•Inside the Witch-Hunt of Isiolo’s Caesar and the Ruinous Fall of MRQ
In the dusty plains of Isiolo, where the wind carries tales of ambition and betrayal, a modern-day Roman drama unfolded—complete with political intrigue, judicial defiance, and a spectacle of downfall.
Governor Abdi Ibrahim Hassan(Guyo), cast in the mold of Julius Caesar, stood at the heart of a tempest—a carefully choreographed conspiratio led by former Speaker Mohamed Roba Qoto, aiming to unseat him, albeit illegally and unconstitutionally.
But like Caesar crossing the Rubicon, Guyo emerged triumphant, his auctoritas untouched, while his adversaries, driven by cupiditas and external puppeteers, lay in political ruin.
The Senate’s emphatic dismissal of the impeachment laid bare the truth: it was a venatio—a witch-hunt, steeped in malice, greed, and manipulation. MRQ, once a towering figure in Isiolo’s assembly, now stands stripped of dignity, a modern Brutus undone by his own ambitio.
Like on the Ides of March: A Conspiracy Unraveled in Isiolo
History teaches us that Caesar’s assassins cloaked their invidia in patriotic pretenses. So too in Isiolo, where under MRQ’s leadership, the County Assembly leveled charges of gross misconduct and constitutional violations against Governor Guyo.
Allegations of inflated payrolls, misappropriation of funds, and delayed state-of-the-county addresses served as gladius and scutum—weapons not of justice, but of political warfare.
The motion, tabled on June 10, 2025, by Sericho MCA Abubakar Godana, rallied 16 of 18 MCAs, echoing cries of libertas—but beneath it all lay a deeper nefarium facinus.
Yet the Senate, playing the role of Rome’s senatus populusque Romanus, swiftly dismantled this fiction. On July 8, 2025, it dismissed the impeachment, citing procedural flaws and upholding a Meru High Court order that had declared the Assembly’s actions nulla et voida.
Justice Heston Nyaga’s conservatory orders on June 17, barring any proceedings, were brazenly ignored—MRQ and his allies defied the judiciary, much like Pompey defied Caesar.
The Senate’s rejection was not just legal; it was moral. Senator Edwin Sifuna captured it best: “It would be the darkest day if we disobeyed court orders.” It was a reaffirmation of iustitia over anarchy.
The Puppet Strings of Potestas: External Interference Exposed
In Rome, Caesar’s enemies sold their loyalty for foreign gold. In Isiolo, the fingerprints of external actors were all over the impeachment saga—a machina devised by those unsettled by Governor Guyo’s growing political stature. As The Standard revealed, Guyo’s rise—from Nairobi MCA to Isiolo Governor—disrupted the regional ordo.
His shift from Jubilee to President Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance was seen by some as a betrayal, particularly by the United Democratic Movement (UDM) elites led by Mandera Senator Ali Roba, whose hold on Northern Kenya politics appeared threatened.
The plot thickened with Isiolo South MP Mohammed Tubi—MRQ’s clansman—flanked by allies such as Halake Dida, claiming there were efforts to influence the Senate using illicit county funds. But this was a textbook false flag—a calculated ploy to blackmail the Senate into validating an illegitimate process.
The chaos that ensued—gunfire, teargas, and vandalism at the County Assembly—was no spontaneous outburst but a staged ludus, meant to distract, intimidate, and distort.
Clearly engineered by MRQ’s faction, this theater of violence was meant to mask their procedural violations.
But Isiolo’s citizens saw through it. They turned out in peaceful protest, a living vox populi, rejecting a shameful attempt to remove their democratically elected leader, Governor Abdi Ibrahim Guyo.
MRQ, once a steward of legislative dignitas, had become a pawn—his arrest on June 23 for undisclosed offenses emblematic of the perils of dancing to the tune of invisible domini.
The Fall of MRQ: Greed’s Poena
Like Brutus, who turned on Caesar for fleeting power only to perish, MRQ’s downfall was the logical consequence of unchecked cupiditas.
His tenure as Speaker, once firm and respected, collapsed under the weight of judicial defiance and political hubris.
The High Court’s condemnation of his actions, along with the Senate’s rejection of the impeachment, stripped him of his fasces. By June 26, 2025, Abdullahi Jaldesa had been gazetted as Speaker, pushing MRQ into political oblivion.
Whispers of a resignation, later denied, were a desperate attempt to cling to fading relevance. But like Brutus at Philippi, MRQ found no redemption. His ambitio turned him into persona non grata, a cautionary tale of self-destruction through the reckless pursuit of power.
Philosophically, his fall is instructive. MRQ believed he could mold the lex to serve his desires. Instead, he triggered a backlash that restored faith in the law and in devolution.
The impeachment, while masked in legalese, was exposed as a sham—a betrayal not of Guyo alone, but of the people of Isiolo.
Veni, Vidi, Vici: Guyo’s Triumph
Governor Guyo emerged from the bellum untouched—his virtus reaffirmed, his position solidified. Like Caesar after Zela, Guyo’s message was unmistakable: veni, vidi, vici(I came, I saw, I conquered).
His legal team, led by Eric Theuri-an absolute legal maven, and the legendary Elisha Ongoya, dismantled the Assembly’s case with surgical precision, exposing its nullitas.
They leaned on precedent—particularly the case of Kericho Governor Eric Mutai—to argue the illegitimacy of proceedings held without Hansard records and in contempt of court.
The Senate’s decision was more than a technicality. It was a declaration that iustitia must stand even in the face of political storm. The impeachment, the Senate ruled, was a non ens—a legal nothingness.
Still, this victory comes with a caveat. Isiolo’s ongoing bellum politicum reveals deeper fissures. Governor Guyo’s track record—68 boreholes, 50 ECDE classrooms, and a multi-billion-shilling abattoir—reflects his munus to his constituents.
Yet the shadow of clan politics and regional rivalries looms large, threatening to erode the very gains devolution promises.
Epilogue: The Eternal Lex
From the ruins of Rome to the dusty assembly halls of Isiolo, one truth endures: power without virtus invites ruin.
The failed impeachment of Governor Guyo was no legal misunderstanding—it was a venatio borne of greed and manipulation. MRQ, once a figure of auctoritas, now wanders the political desert, undone by his own ambition.
Guyo stands tall, declaring veni, vidi, vici, but the health of Isiolo’s res publica depends on vigilance. Let MRQ’s fall serve as a warning.
As Seneca wrote, qui non vetat peccare, cum possit, iubet—he who does not forbid sin when he can, commands it. May Isiolo’s leaders remember this dictum, lest they too be erased by history’s damnatio memoriae.
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the author’s very own
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