Nairobi MCAs deny Sonko impeachment plans

The planned impeachment of Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has caused a rift within the Nairobi County Assembly with a section of MCAs saying they will not be party to the ouster process.

The ward representatives, largely drawn from the ODM party, said they cannot impeach Governor Sonko unless they are given the go-ahead by their respective party leaders.

Nyayo Highrise MCA Kennedy Oyugi said that impeaching Mr Sonko is a major move that cannot be carried out on political whim considering the unique state of the county government which currently lacks a deputy governor.

PARTY POSITION

The ODM ward representative said matters impeachment must be deliberated by the party’s top leadership and that so far, the party had not declared its stand on the matter.

“We cannot make such a major move if we have not been given the green light by our party leaders. As at now, those calling for the impeachment are a few members who want to settle scores with Sonko and we will not be party to such wars,” said Mr Oyugi.

His assertions were supported by his counterpart from South C, Osman Khalif who challenged the members claiming to have already collected the required signatures to necessitate a censure motion to make them public.

“We are led by our party leaders who are yet to tell us what to do. They should show the public the 82 signatures they are saying they have,” said Mr Khalif.

“If it is impeaching Governor Sonko, we have to get direction from party leadership and organs. We cannot just wake up and say that we have today decided to impeach the governor,” said Nairobi West MCA Maurice Gari.

DIVIDED ASSEMBLY

On her part, deputy majority leader and Ziwani Kariokor MCA Millicent Mugadi said Governor Sonko has not approached them (Jubilee MCAs), to try to prevent any impeachment motion against him but has decided to let the law take its course.

“People are minting money in the name of impeaching Governor Sonko. The movers of the motion have benefited from those who want to see Sonko out and they have to do everything to show they are doing something,” said Ms Mugadi.

A section of ODM MCAs, led by Minority Whip Peter Imwatok, have been on the forefront of calls to remove Governor Sonko from office since he was barred from office on December 11, giving Speaker Beatrice Elachi seven days to call for a special sitting.

But not all ODM MCAs have been keen on the same with some of them joining their Jubilee counterparts in defending the Governor.

DUBAI TRIP

Jubilee party is divided into two factions, those in support of the new party leadership in the assembly are in solidarity with the City Hall boss while those allied to the former leadership of former majority leader Abdi Guyo have deliberately kept away from declaring support for Governor Sonko.

At the same time, the MCAs denied there was a planned Dubai trip linked to the ouster of the Governor claiming the reports are “works of former leadership at the assembly trying to fight back”.

“This is a war by former leadership. We are going to expose them of their dirty dealings at the assembly and the executive,” said Mr Oyugi, who was part of the 18 MCAs set to travel to Dubai.