• Senate to dispatch team to calm infighting in Mombasa and protect assembly
• A lobby is collecting signatures to petition President to dissolve assembly, Joho also threatens to send them packing for obstructing him
Image: FILE
The feud between the county assembly and the executive in Mombasa has drawn the attention of the Senate, which will send a team to douse flames.
Senators have warned against threats and intimidation against Mombasa MCAs by members of the executive and administrators.
The Star has learnt a team of senators is being selected to probe the infighting, which could culminate in impeachment of Transport executive Tawfiq Balala.
On Tuesday, Mombasa Senator Mohamed Faki raised the Mombasa problem in the Senate and called for protection of the county assembly. The Senate is the guardian of counties and devolution.
“I urge the Senate to come to the defence of the county assembly of Mombasa to avoid a situation where the assembly would be paralysed, giving the executive a free hand to operate,” he said.
MCAs have defied the instructions of Governor Hassan Joho, who wants his executives allowed to work without being summoned by assembly committees.
The MCAs say the incompetence of some executives has landed them, the lawmakers, in trouble with their voters.
On Tuesday, Jomvu Kuu MCA Athman Shebe, popularly known as ‘Mukono', tabled a notice of a motion to impeach Balala. Speaker Aharub Khatri ordered the motion tabled next Tuesday for debate.
Shebe accused Balala of incompetence, abuse of office and arrogance, among other alleged wrongdoing.
In response, and following threats by Joho to mobilise residents to recall the MCAs, a lobby calling itself Operesheni Fagia Bunge on Tuesday began collecting signatures to petition President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve the assembly. It targets 200,000 voters.
The lobby, led by Mary Oyier and Kalinga Mgandi, says the MCAs have failed in their legislation and oversight roles.
But the MCAs say the lobby is ignorant and has been misled.
On Tuesday, Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula mobilised Senators to stand in solidarity with Senator Faki Mombasa MCAs.
He said a team of senators must be dispatched to Mombasa to address the county assembly.
“The executive in any county is accountable to the assembly in terms of primary oversight, budgeting and approval of budgets and approval of programs of the county government,” Wetang’ula said.
The Senator said the executive in Mombasa is engaging in a futile exercise if it is trying to engineer the dissolution of the assembly.
“There is no provision in law for the executive to dissolve the county assembly,” Wetang’ula said. That only happens when the situation gets so bad t the President has to set up a committee.
“When they dissolve the county, both the assembly and the executive will go home. So what they are doing is just undermining themselves,” the Ford Kenya leader said.
“They should forward to the Senate for action whatever the assembly does that the government does not abide by," Wetang’ula said.
Faki told the Senate the Mombasa county assembly, as part of its oversight function, invited three executive committee members for a meeting with three committees.
“However, the county executive members did not honour the invitations but instead issued threats to dissolve the county assembly, claiming that they have failed to perform their mandate,” Faki said.
Operesheni Fagia Bunge on Tuesday began collecting signatures from residents in a bid to petition President Uhuru to dissolve the assembly.
“This is an act of intimidation of the MCAs, which should not be condoned,” Faki said.
He said the oversight role of the assembly as enshrined in the Constitution and the County Governments Act cannot be achieved if it is denied an opportunity to summon and interview members of the executive.
MCAs, he said, are representatives of the people of Mombasa and their voices ought to be heard to achieve the aspirations of the people they represent.
“Any attempt to deter them by harassing, intimidating or threatening MCAs is an affront to the independence of the assembly and must be stopped,” the Senator said.
"There are sufficient provisions in the Standing Orders in the assembly of Mombasa to safeguard the interests, if any, of the executive committee members, and do not require the threats, harassment and intimidation."
Faki said Mombasa should not go the way of the Makueni county government way during the 11th Parliament.
The Makueni matter reached the Senate, which eventually prevented the county from being dissolved.