• Malenya had lost her seat last year in April which resulted in the assembly stripping off her benefits and privileges as an MCA.
• She was reinstated last week on Thursday, following a court order.
After one year out in the cold, ODM Nairobi Nominated MCA Eve Malenya has regained her seat.
She was reinstated last week on Thursday, following a court order.
Malenya had lost her seat last year in April which resulted in the assembly stripping off her benefits and privileges as an MCA.
County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura revealed that the ODM MCA was back in the house after a court order suspended the implementation of a gazette notice dated April 5, 2019, that sought to replace her with Perpetua Mponjiwa.
“This, therefore, effectively reinstates Hon Eve Malenya as the Member of this County Assembly. Consequently, I now direct the Office of the Clerk to reinstate Malenya on all benefits, privileges and platforms enjoyed by MCAs without arrears,” he said.
The ODM MCA was given a warm welcome by the House led by the assembly leadership.
Malenya’s woes started in 2017 when she was deregistered from the IEBC nomination list.
Last year in April, Malenya had sought court orders to stop the swearing-in of Mponjiwa, who had been fronted by the party to replace her.
Malenya insisted she was the right person for nomination as MCA.
She wanted the court to suspend the April 5, 2019 Gazette notice on Mponjiwa's swearing-in, arguing it is illegal.
“It is apparent that Mponjiwa has been gazetted as the ODM nominee under the gender top-up category, yet ODM never forwarded her name in its final list,” read the court documents.
She stated that Mponjiwa ran as an independent candidate in the 2017 General Election and was ineligible to be nominated or elected under the ODM party list.
Malenya added ODM and the Political Parties Dispute Resolution Tribunal invited parties to present their claims before the party tribunal.
On July 2, 2020 drama was witnessed outside the assembly after a man stripped down to his innerwear protesting his wife’s deregistration, Eve Malenya, as a nominated MCA.
The court last month had given an order giving the assembly up to October 1, 2020, to have Perpetua Mponjiwa sworn in as a nominated MCA.
According to Minority leader Michael Ogada, ODM party has never recognized Mponjiwa as its own, therefore she cannot be sworn in.
The party stands with Eve Malenya who was de-registered from the IEBC nomination list last year following a successful court case by Mponjiwa.
“It is enlightening to note that it is the political parties that nominate such Members to the special seat positions. In the view of this, it will be in total contravention of the law for this honourable House to give a nod and proceed to swear in a member who resigned from the ODM on May 8, 2017, and as such has never been recognized by the very party she purports to cling on,” he said