All the 128 Nairobi MCAs are required to attend the official opening of the to be graced by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday.
Deputy Speaker Ken Ngondi warned MCAs of dire consequence in the event they abscond the event.
The warning came following plans by Oscar Lore (Mathare North) and Peter Imwatok (Makongeni) to skip the sittings because Cord leader Raila Odinga was not invited.
"We have
mechanism
of disciplining our members. We will deal with whoever
will abscond. Let them not be petty because we are neither opening a Cord nor Jubilee office. We are opening the County Assembly of Nairobi,"
Ngondi
said.
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The MCAs and others from Cord wanted Raila to preside over the function, because the opposition coalition forms the majority of the members.
But Ngondi, also a Cord MCA, said that the assembly leadership invited the President as the head of state.
This comes even as Cord Chief Whip David Mberia summoned the MCAs to a Kamukunji at a hotel to discuss on whather or not to boycott the function.
However, Ngondi said: "Even if you hate President Kenyatta, you must respect the presidency because it's an institution which will be there forever,"
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He said the assembly leadership welcomes the President, adding that Imwatok and Mberia cannot purport to wield so much power as they pretend.
Minority leader Abdi Guyo said that together with the majority leader Elias Otieno, they have whipped all members to attend the launch.
Several Cord members also said that they will attend the launch and told off the three MCAs who will skip the function.
"Only three MCAs out of the 128- member assembly will skip the launch, which is insignificant. Then we will be left with 125 members," a Cord MCA who asked not to be named said.
"They can go wherever they want. But for us, we are in ODM and we are very loyal to our party leader Raila Odinga and still respect the presidency. We know Raila is the next President and we will want people to respect him," the MCA said.