Jubilee nominated MCA loses seat, two others suspended for missing sittings

Nairobi Nominated MCA Habiba Ibrahim Hussein has lost her seat after she failed to attend the plenary sittings for two years.

County Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi on Tuesday declared her seat vacant after the house adopted a report of the select committee on powers and privileges into allegations of absenteeism from plenary sitting by members.

At the same time, Kileleshwa MCA Elias Otieno and his counterpart from Airbase Faud Mohammed were suspended from the assembly and its precincts for three calendar months.

The committee started the inquiry into absenteeism of MCAs after ward rep Maurice Gare on February 18 brought to the attention of the Speaker the alleged long absence of Otieno.

According to Gare, the member was in violation of Standing Order 242 which highlights failure to attended sittings.

Consequently, Speaker Elachi directed the matter to the Powers and Privilege committee which resolved to investigate all MCAs who have missed eight sittings.

AirBase ward rep Faud Mohammed appeared before the committee on February 26 stated and attended sittings on two occasions but did not use the biometric device to clock into the plenary.

Confessing to being guilty of missing plenary sittings, Mohammed said he had a family problem which had taken him around nine months to solve.

However, he confessed to not informing the Speaker of his absence and tendered his apologies to the committee for his offence.

Appearing before the committee on February 27, Hon. Otieno said the whole investigation was out of malice and that his fingers had on several occasions failed to access the biometric register from the ICT Department and could be a reason why his attendance was not captured.

He also said that the investigations were out of personal differences between him and Nairobi West MCA Maurice Gare.

Otieno who is the former Minority Leader justified his absence from plenary sittings saying it was due to the leadership wrangles that were within the assembly and he did not wish to take sides hence his decision to keep away.

The Kileleshwa ward rep had been the majority leader during former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero’s regime and served as Minority leader until last year in November where he was replaced by Karen MCA David Mberia.

Despite being invited twice on February 25 and 27, Hon. Habiba Hussein failed to show up.

In its findings, the committee noted that Hon. Elias Otieno missed 12 sittings between November 14, 2019, and February 18, 2020.

In the case of Airbase ward rep Hon. Faud Mohammed, it was observed that he had family issues and brought supporting documents from the area chief and hospital.

The committee also observed that Habiba’s absence from the plenary for two years was gross misconduct against all provisions of representation of the electorate under the Constitution, Leadership and Integrity Act, Elections Act 2011 and also the assembly’s standing orders.

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