• New Majority leader says those who opposed the bad running of the assembly and government were being intimidated and harassed.
• Members expressed concerns old leadership was bulldozing motions and bills at the behest of the executive.
Image: Stanley Njenga
The Kiambu county assembly Jubilee house leadership has been changed following an election conducted on Monday.
The election was supervised by Frank Mwendani, the deputy director legal affairs in Jubilee party. Ndeiya MCA Gideon Gachara replaced Anthony Ikonya who declined a proposal to defend his seat.
The assembly has 89 Jubilee members. One member was in hospital.
Gachara garnered 48 votes for the Majority leader position and his competitor, Tinganga MCA Covenant Chege garnered 39 votes.
A section of members had petitioned the party for no confidence with the house leadership which was led by Ikonya. They accused the leadership of collusion with the executive, inability to handle party members, poor performance, intimidation and being unruly.
The MCAs agreed the leaders were unable to steer the party members to the required productivity.
Gachara said Kiambu residents have branded MCAs as being pocketed by Governor Ferdinand Waititu saying it was not the case as "not all were the executive rubber stamps".
He said those who opposed the bad running of the assembly and government were being intimidated and harassed, hence the need for change in leadership.
“We were elected to defend and protect Wanjiku’s interests but some leaders have had their way to loot and Wanjiku has already branded us greedy,” Gachara said.
The assembly members also elected Simon Karema (Theta) as the chief whip after James Kimani (Mwiki) resigned from the seat. Ann Wanjiku was elected as the deputy Majority leader and Margaret Mwago (Nominated) the deputy chief whip.
Ikonya, Alex Kabuu and Margaret Gatonye were removed from the Majority leader, deputy Majority leader and deputy chief whip after members expressed concerns they were bulldozing motions and bills at the behest of the executive.
They have allegedly been denying members time to scrutinise motions and bills as per the law.
Among the motions and bills motioned were the Kiambu County Finance Bill 2018, Kiambu County Enforcement Bill 2018, supplementary budgets 1 and 2 2018-19 and the Employment Bill.
The MCAs also noted that the leadership had never convened any Jubilee party meeting despite numerous calls by members.
This, they said, had led to unresolved issues amongst party members. They also complained of intimidation of anyone who is vocal in overseeing the county government.
MCAs said Waititu's government has been using the assembly leadership to intimidate them.
Karema said they have not been elected to fight the government but to make things right and do their oversight role without being intimidated or harassed.
The ousted members left the assembly precincts in a huff and did not give any statements to the press nor defend themselves over the claims made against them.
Mwenda, however, relayed a message from party secretary general Raphael Tuju that the house must not be divided and should cultivate cohesion amongst themselves, adding that the party would not condone infighting by MCAs from the same party.
Edited by R.Wamochie