Chaos, blows as rival ward reps fight for control of the House

Chaos, drama and fist fights rocked the Nairobi County Assembly on Tuesday as the battle for control of the House rages.

In what is now becoming a new normal since the return of Speaker Beatrice Elachi to her office earlier this month, the rival factions engaged in kicks, blows and shouting matches.

At the centre of the drama was the planned impeachment of Speaker Elachi and Majority Leader Abdi Guyo, the composition of the assembly’s new board and the sending of Clerk Jacob Ngwele on a one-month compulsory leave.

On one side is a group of MCAs who have vowed not to recognise Ms Elachi as the Speaker and want to remove her from the position at all cost. The group is led by Matopeni Spring Valley MCA Mr Guyo.

On the other side is another group that supports Speaker Elachi and does not recognise Mr Guyo as the leader of the majority. They are made up of both Jubilee and ODM party members.

Mr Guyo’s faction has already started the process of removing Speaker Elachi from office through a censure motion. They have also gone to court to obtain a conservatory order barring her from presiding over any assembly sitting until the petition is heard and determined.

The petition will be heard on January 28 next year.

“We will not allow Elachi to preside over any assembly sitting,” said South B MCA Esther Waithera Chege.

“The session will be presided over by either the deputy Speaker or any other member from the Speaker’s panel. We are asking Ms Elachi to respect the court order in the same manner she is expecting us to respect the one that brought her back.”

She said they have already forwarded a notice of the censure motion to Mr Ngwele, the assembly clerk, to verify the collected signatures in preparation for its tabling in the House.

But the motion was not tabled in the House and Speaker Elachi went on to preside over the afternoon sitting despite protests from the rival MCAs, who kept shouting “respect court order” before walking out of the session.

A scuffle ensued earlier in the day when the MCAs allied to Speaker Elachi stormed a press briefing by those allied to Mr Guyo, cutting short the briefing.

Blows and kicks were traded as objects were hurled at the MCAs as they scampered for their dear lives while being escorted by a barrage of blows in a scene out of an action thriller.

The faction allied to Mr Guyo was responding to their counterparts who had held their briefing an hour before daring them to table the planned impeachment motion if “they think they have the numbers”.

Earlier, the other faction had vowed Speaker Elachi was going nowhere, saying that instead they will remove Mr Guyo as the majority leader, claiming he uses intimidation to support his personal interests.

“We are behind the Speaker and removing her is impossible. Trying to impeach Ms Elachi is like flogging a dead horse,” said Dandora 3 MCA Charles Thuo, adding: “Guyo must step out and do so honourably when he still has the chance. We are going to remove him.”

Nairobi West MCA Maurice Gari — who is one of the ODM MCAs supporting Ms Elachi — said the party will not be part of the planned impeachment motion as they support the return of Ms Elachi.

“We are not party to the planned impeachment but if you think you have numbers, then bring it on procedurally not engaging in chest thumping. We stand with our party position supporting the return of Ms Elachi,” he said.

Hamza MCA Mark Ndung’u said the new assembly board was being fought by a few individuals for their own selfish gain but reiterated that Jubilee MCAs will not allow Governor Mike Sonko to be blackmailed.

“As you can see, we have more numbers from both Jubilee and ODM parties and we are in support of Ms Elachi and Governor Sonko. There will be nothing like impeachment,” Mr Ndung’u said.

For her part, Ziwani MCA Millicent Mugadi claimed Nairobi has been taken over by “cartels” who want to continue running the show through intimidation.