NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 25 – A showdown is expected in Parliament over the suspension of Makadara MP Gidion Mbuvi alias Sonko from Narc-Kenya.
The party that sponsored him to Parliament claims that it had already served the Speaker’s office with a letter from the Registrar of Political Parties okaying the suspension, before a High Court injunction blocking the action was issued.
Sonko is expected to rely on the court order as he seeks to protect his stay as a member of the Tenth Parliament.
The fate of the Makadara legislator now lies with House Speaker Kenneth Marende as the Registrar of Political Parties had on Monday morning granted Narc-K, its request to have the MP deleted from its members list.
Later on the day, the High Court issued an injunction temporarily stopping Narc-Kenya from expelling him. The court barred the Registrar of Political Parties and the Attorney General from effecting the expulsion until the hearing of the case.
However, uncertainty now arises over the next step after it emerged that that the Registrar had already handled the matter in the morning and that the Speaker had been served with the letter, an hour before the court issued the injunction.
“I have acknowledged receipt of your letter dated 21, October 2011, after the (party) made a disciplinary decision on the matter. From our end we want to communicate that Gidion Mbuvi’s ‘Sonko’ name has been struck off as a member of Narc-Kenya in the party,” the letter from the Registrar reads.
Narc-K Secretary General Danson Mungatana confirmed receipt of the letter from the registrar and said he hoped that the Speaker would act on the directive expeditiously.
“I am writing to you to call upon you to take action and declare the seat vacant,” Mungatana wrote to the Speaker.
The MP was expelled by his party for allegedly showing allegiance to a different party, but he challenged the decision in court. He told the court that the decision to expel him was made without according him an opportunity to be heard.
High Court Judge David Majanja granted the injunction pending hearing of all parties on November 2.
Sonko got into trouble with the party that sponsored him to Parliament after he allegedly campaigned for Party of National Unity (PNU) candidate – now MP – Yusuf Hassan, instead of campaigning for his party’s candidate, Brian Weke, in the recent Kamukunji by-election.
Since his election in 2010 where he upstaged ex-MPs Dick Wathika and Reuben Ndolo, he has not been a stranger to the news, often due to his public antics that have seen him clashing with the law enforcement officers and even the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Sonko has been ejected from Parliamentary proceedings on three different occasions, twice due to failing to adhere to the parliamentary dress code – he showed up in the chamber with an ear stud.
The MP has also been kicked out for indiscipline after he alleged that a member of Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s family was involved in a drug trafficking syndicate, an allegation he could not substantiate, as House standing orders dictate.
Sonko’s rise to fame began during the 2010 referendum campaigns on the new Constitution where he teamed up with leader in the YES Team, and rallied youths to turn out and vote. He was to later use the newfound fame to declare his candidature for the Makadara seat after the court nullified the election of Wathika.
His quest for the seat, suffered a minor setback after ODM, the party he had associated with opted to give former area MP and poll petitioner Reuben Ndolo a direct nomination. This prompted Sonko to decamp into Narc-Kenya’s hands where he benefited from a direct nomination.
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