Tension engulfed Murang’a County Assembly for the better part of Tuesday following plans by women parliamentarians to storm the premises over the suspension of a female MCA.
Kanyenya-ini MCA Grace Nduta was suspended for four months on June 7 following the adoption of a report by the assembly’s committee of Power and Privileges that recommended her suspension.
The committee chaired by speaker Johnson Mukuha found the MCA at fault for posting messages in a WhatsApp group that painted members in bad light.
The MCA is said to have said that members of the county assembly had failed in their oversight work and that MCAs had failed to push the executive to focus on matters that were of utmost importance to residents.
The MCA is also said to have said the health sector was in bad shape as MCAs urged members of the WhatsApp group to give governor Irungu Kang’ata time to streamline the sector as he had found it in the same state.
MPs Mary Waithera (Maragua) and Betty Maina (Woman Representative) on Tuesday caused drama after holding a meeting at the entrance of the assembly to condemn Nduta’s suspension.
The meeting saw tens of police officers in combat uniforms pitch camp at the assembly as MCAs held their morning session.
Supporters of the two MPs had camped outside the assembly as they waited for them to arrive at around 2pm.
Upon arrival, the MPs who were accompanied by Dagoretti North MP Beatrice Elachi and nominated senator Veronica Maina broke into song and dance with their supporters as the police readied for any confrontation.
But the MPs said they were not seeking a fight as they had come to register their displeasure with the conduct of the assembly and give notice to the police of a demo they intend to hold.
"We will always stand with women, whether mama mboga or elected woman who is unfairly treated,” Waithera said.
Waithera wondered why Nginda MCA John Mwangi had been spared by the same committee even after calling members greedy and gluttonous during a debate on boundaries of Murang’a Water and Sanitation Company (Muwasco) and Murang’a South Water and sanitation Company (Muswasco) i Maragua constituency.
"Men are allowed to apologise but a woman expressing herself on social media is harassed, removed from all committees and suspended for four months.
"The powers and privileges committee had no mandate to sit and punish an MCA who only undertook her role of oversight and representation. Nowhere in standing orders can the committee remove a member from a committee. That’s the work of the party through the leader of majority," Waithera said.
Maina on her part wondered why police officers had been deployed to the assembly instead of being deployed to fight drugs and illicit liquor in the villages.
"Men have come together to fight a woman just for pointing out that health facilities are in bad shape. The speaker should study the standing orders better and lead the house in a proper manner. We will fight until she finds justice," he said.
Elachi on her part said the speaker had no business interrogating a member’s conduct on social media.
She said members of Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA) will visit the assembly next Tuesday to follow up on the matter and that they will take it to court if need be and that they will be accompanied by the UDA party secretary general Cleophas Malala.
As they spoke, MCAs who had concluded their afternoon listened from a distance with Waithera taunting them to ‘come closer’ before the MCAs forced their way through the gathering despite pleas from the police who were trying to avoid confrontations between the two.
Back to why Nduta's comments on WhatsApp, the first time MCA was contributing to a heated discussion in which residents were complaining over lack of essential facilities in local health facilities following the death of a prominent lawyer who died at Murang’a Level 5 Hospital on May 18 over lack of oxygen and ambulances.
Soon after, clerk Kuria Thuita summoned the MCA to appear before the Powers and Privileges Committee saying the messages reflected adversely on the dignity and integrity of the assembly.
But when the committee’s report was tabled in the assembly, Leader of Majority Francis Kibe said Nduta had been granted a chance to apologise but had instead told the committee that she ‘would be a regular customer of the committee’ and that her sentiments had painted them as failures to their voters.
The Ithiru MCA said Nduta was offered an opportunity to tender her apology but instead said she will not apologise, observing she may be summoned severally.
MCAs supported the move to have Nduta disciplined and stripped of her privileges which led to her suspension as a member in the House committee of Speaker’s panel, House Business and Rules and Committee on selection.
But the decision further caused an uproar from members of the public who said she was being unfairly targeted for telling the truth.
