Violence erupts over elections

• PNU civic leaders claim no election took place because they were excluded from the meeting.
• 2 councillors injured in melee; chaos in Narok too.
• PNU has now lost control of all the city council committees.

A Nairobi councillors meeting was adjourned on Tuesday after councillors fought over posts.

The civic leaders hurled chairs at one another as opposing camps disagreed over elections for council committees.

Party of National Unity councillors, led by deputy mayor John Njoroge, rejected the elections when their Orange Democratic Movement party counterparts took control of all committees at City Hall.

They insisted that no elections had taken place and that they had been excluded from the afternoon session, during which the polls were conducted.

“We will now leave them to run the council. If they fail, it will be them who have failed,” Mr Njoroge told journalists.

The morning session of the council’s first annual general had been adjourned after the violence erupted.

Two civic leaders were injured.

The outcome means that PNU loses control of all the council committees, including the General Purposes one, to be chaired by Mayor Geofrey Majiwa.

Following a deadlock during the council’s mayoral election earlier this year, the two teams had decided to share the leadership, including in the committees.

Mr Majiwa of ODM took over the mayorship with Mr Njoroge as his deputy.

Addressing the press after the elections, Mr Majiwa said that there was no longer any purpose of sharing the leadership at City Hall since there were no mayoral elections.

He also said there was nothing wrong with the process since the law allowed them to just table a list and endorse it.

Broke chairs

In Narok, angry councillors broke chairs, tables and doors in the Council Hall, making town clerk J. Ogolla flee.

The chaos began when one group claimed that their colleague, Mr Musele ole Tulele, had been kidnapped by their rivals.

Violence broke out when the town clerk insisted that the elections would proceed as scheduled without the missing councillor.

Mr Ogolla was rescued by the police as the councillors tried to break down his office door. All local authorities are expected to hold committee elections by Friday.