Nairobi County Assembly session adjourned as MCAs turn chaotic
The ward representatives tried to grab the mace during the chaotic session. PHOTO | COLLINS OMULO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The ward reps are protesting over bursary funds delay.
- They want the county administration to reveal a timeline for release of the funds.
- The reps have accuse the acting county speaker of not taking the issue seriously.
A section of Nairobi ward representatives on Wednesday disrupted plenary sitting over delayed bursary funds.
The chaotic ward representatives attempted to grab the mace and were thwarted by assembly sergeants who acted quickly.
The MCAs chanted "no bursaries, no sittings" as some of them sat on the floor.
"We will not allow any business to proceed here until the bursary funds are released by the executive. it is not a privilege but a right," said Umoja I Ward Rep Mark Mugambi.
The chaos forced John Kamangu, who was the speaker of the day, to hurriedly adjourn the session as the county legislators walked out of the assembly to hold a brief meeting.
The MCAs have been breathing fire since last week over the delay of issuance of bursaries since December last year.
Last Thursday, they pledged to keep away from attending plenary sittings to protest over the delayed funds.
And on Tuesday, the MCAs made good their threat by boycotting the House sitting.
They accused House leadership of laxity and not doing enough to push the executive to release the funds for needy students in the county calling for the sacking of Education executive Lucia Mulwa.
They also vowed to paralyse operations of the executive until they get the funds.
But this is not the first time that the city MCAs have attempted to grab the mace with even the inaugural assembly also witnessing such an incident.
Back in 2016, Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) ward representatives attempted to grab the mace in a bid to disrupt a motion which was about to be tabled to impeach former governor Dr Evans Kidero.
The same attempts have also been witnessed in other counties across the country with Kericho, Kisumu and Meru Counties grabbing the headlines.
In January 2018, Kericho MCAs threw out the mace out the window in protest against an amendment to a budget to increase allocation for the upgrade of an airstrip at the county.
A year later, 10 Kisumu County ward representatives were summoned by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) as one of them attempted to run away with the mace outside the assembly in February.
Just last month, more than 10 Meru County MCAs were summoned by the EACC after an incident where they attempted to grab the mace from the sergeant at arms.
