NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 28 – Police lobbed teargas at Nairobi County Assembly premises Tuesday afternoon after Members of County Assembly against the leadership of County Speaker Beatrice Elachi forced their way into the Assembly to serve an impeachment motion.
Chaos erupted when police blocked the MCAs who had jumped over the Assembly’s perimeter wall to access the Speaker’s office where Elachi had reportedly locked herself inside.
Corridors leading to the Assembly were filled with teargas smoke as police attempted to disperse the MCAs who were keen to present the Notice of Motion which was signed by 59 MCAs.
The ward representatives scampered to safety after numerous canisters were lobbed making the Assembly precincts inhabitable, forcing them to leave without serving the Speaker with the notice of the motion.
The MCAs accused her of abuse of office, divisive leadership and disrespecting other office holders in the assembly.
The showdown marked the second time the MCAs were seeking to eject Elachi after a similar attempt was overturned by the courts.
A document seen by Capital News, indicated 59 signatures had been collected in favour of the ouster motion, meeting the required threshold to institute the process of impeaching the Speaker.
The dispute is emanating from fresh leadership wrangles which have emerged following the fall out of Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi.
On Monday, pro-Elachi MCAs said they will be introducing a motion to impeach Governor Sonko, accusing him of failing to manage county affairs and frustrating Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
The MCAs vowed to proceed with their quest to impeach Sonko without interference from the ruling party making reference to a previous motion which was dropped following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s intervention.
Also at the center of the wrangles is the Speaker’s move to appoint Edward Gichana as County Assembly Clerk, despite the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission stating Jacob Ngwele remained the substantive office holder.
Ngwele was kicked out of office in November 2019, after Elachi wrote to EACC claiming he had been irregularly appointed. She wanted him investigated.
The ethic agency however said it was satisfied Ngwele was properly appointed, after seven months of investigations.
The court has since suspended the appointment of Edward Gichana as Nairobi Assembly Clerk pending hearing of a case challenging move.
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