A fresh battle is looming at Nairobi County Assembly over the refusal by Speaker Beatrice Elachi to effect Jubilee Party leadership changes.
The new leadership, led by Majority Leader Abdi Guyo and Majority Whip Paul Kados, have said the wait is over and they will now go ahead and assume their offices regardless.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION
They said they will ignore Elachi’s recent communication failing to recognise them and proceed to take up their roles as mandated by the party.
They have also accused Elachi of blatant impunity and bias having chosen to disregard the party’s communication on leadership changes at the assembly in April and May, a position which was re-affirmed by Secretary General Raphael Tuju during a meeting with all Jubilee MCAs Wednesday last week.
“In the circumstances, and seeing as nothing will sway your bias, be advised therefore, that the Party having dispensed with these matters, and yourself having made the bias obvious and this office having complied with the provisions of Standing Order 20 to no avail. We shall each proceed to take up our roles as mandated by the Jubilee Party, and act as if your communication was never issued in the first place,” Kados said in a letter dated June 11, 2020.
Thursday last week, Ms Elachi said the intended changes by Jubilee have fallen short of requirements of provisions of the laws governing the assembly and the current interim leaders will continue serving the party.
This is after Mr Tuju had made it clear that the leadership changes made by the party is final, warning of disciplinary action on the Speaker and any other member opposed to the changes.
But in her communication to the House, the Speaker argued that a party SG has no role in communicating to the speaker a decision to effect changes in the party’s House leadership with the same lying with the party’s whip as per Standing Order 20 (8) of the assembly.
TUJU’S LETTER
However, Mr Kados pointed out that he wrote to the Speaker on April 15, 2020 communicating the changes with the letter delivered to the office of the Speaker accompanied by the minutes and list of attendance indicating the two-thirds threshold.
But instead of communicating the changes during a sitting on April 17, 2020, said the Mihang’o MCA, the Speaker demanded that Mr Tuju write to her directly notifying her of the changes.
According to the new Whip, he communicated the new demand to the Secretary General on May 12, 2020 through a letter, and Mr Tuju duly obliged writing to the Speaker communicating the changes on May 28, 2020.
However, the Speaker still refused to communicate the changes on June 2, 2020 when the assembly resumed from recess, saying she is reviewing Tuju’s letter and will take up the matter with the party leader for clarity and a Jubilee group meeting be held before endorsing the changes.
“It would seem to any objective observer that in this matter, you are clearly and unequivocally conflicted and have erased any semblance of impartiality, even going by your practice in the recent past, specifically when the outgoing leadership was appointed in the interim as the party sought to restore sanity in its ranks and how speedily you expedited that process,” said Mr Kados.
MAJORITY LEADER
Ealchi had also faulted the reinstatement of Mr Guyo pointing out that having the Matopeni MCA, who has been suspended for four assembly sittings months, as Majority Leader would lead to paralysis of assembly business.
This is because a member who has been suspended from assembly sittings cannot assume a role of House leadership since such a member cannot transact business in the assembly.
But the new leadership has hit back saying that purported suspension had been stopped by the Court.
The changes see Mr Guyo replacing Dandora Area 3 MCA Charles Thuo, who had been holding the position since November last year, as Majority Leader. He will be deputised Dandora Area 1 MCA Peter Wanyoike.
Mr Kados took over as Majority Whip replacing nominated MCA June Ndegwa and he will be deputised by South B MCA Waithera Chege.
Ziwani MCA Millicent Mugadi and California MCA Abdikadir Mohamed, in the process, also lost their positions as Deputy Majority Leader and Deputy Majority Whip respectively.
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