We will not accept Elachi back, say City MCAs

The Nairobi County Assembly is anxiously awaiting tomorrow's court ruling on the impeachment of Speaker Beatrice Elachi.

Regardless of the ruling, the ward representatives say they will not have Elachi back and that they will impeach her again if the determination is in her favour.

MCAs on Tuesday said Elachi will remain a stranger in the assembly as her services were no longer needed. 

Majority leader Abdi Hassan Guyo said, “We are her employer and when her services were no longer required we sacked her. She was our servant and the court cannot force her down our throats.” 

Guyo said that the reps had lost confidence in her and impeached her as per the standing orders. “Her future in the assembly was sealed by the impeachment and  members have moved on.” 

Elachi told the Star yesterday that she could not comment on the matter until after the court ruling.

She had several spats with the MCAs before her impeachment on September 6, 2018.  She became the first speaker to be impeached in the second term of the Jubilee Government. Some 103 MCAs out of 122 voted in favour of her impeachment. 

On June 19, 2018, Elachi narrowly survived impeachment after Deputy President William Ruto intervened.

ODM leader Raila Odinga's attempt to save her from going home on September 6 failed.

However, she moved to the Employment and Labour Relations Court and she was allowed to remain in office. But chaos erupted on September 10 after the court extended an order allowing her to remain at City Hall.

Elachi was forced to hide in the washrooms and eventually escape through a backdoor as the MCAs attempted to forcefully eject her from the office.

Since then, she has not been to the assembly.

However, she has been a vocal supporter of the Building Bridges Initiative. She has also been on several television talk shows.

Her replacement in an acting capacity has been Chege Mwaura since September 25, 2018.

Minority leader Elias Otieno said the Nasa side will also not accept Elachi back as they had faith in Chege's leadership. “We will allow the court to do its work on the ruling but we have already done our part,” he said.

Minority whip Peter Imwatok said that the assembly has moved on and Elachi is "past tense" as far as they are concerned.

Nominated MCA Juliet Ndegwa, “As much as we are in support of women leadership, Elachi cannot come back and be our speaker.” 

Her colleague Ruth Ndumi that women have been doing better in legislative matters since Elachi left.