• The adjournment of the assembly of Kirinyaga was occasioned by the continued spread of Covid-19 in the country and the need to protect MCAs, staff and the public from infection and to prevent the spread of the disease
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The High Court will on Monday rule whether Kirinyaga county assembly can carry on with plenary sittings despite a ban on meetings and gatherings to curb the spread of coronavirus.
MCAs Maureen Muthoni and Raphael Kariuki want the court to stop the sittings.
Some ward representatives have tabled a motion to impeach Governor Ann Waiguru for gross violation of the Constitution.
The MCA reps, through their lawyer Steve Ogolla, have argued that in the absence of an urgent and exceptional business directly related to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no justification for the assembly to resume sittings.
The ward representatives only returned from a month-long recess on Tuesday and have been urged to indefinitely adjourn sittings as part of measures to combat the pandemic.
Maureen and Kariuki moved to court after speaker Anthony Gathumbi recalled the house to discuss the impeachment motion against Waiguru.
The motion was filed on Tuesday.
The MCAs have accused the governor of gross violation of the Constitution by among others not delivering the annual state of the county address to the county assembly
Muthoni and Kariuki asked the court to stop the sittings, saying it was for public interest.
They argue that reconvening in the middle of the coronavirus crisis posed a real and imminent danger of new infections to the MCAs, assembly staff and the public that interact within the assembly.
Ogolla submitted before Justice Weldon Korir that the court should direct the speaker to ensure adequate arrangements have been put in place to protect the members, staff and the public from being infected with coronavirus.
The petitioners said the assembly was adjourned on March 18 over the coronavirus situation in the country.
“The adjournment of the assembly of Kirinyaga was occasioned by the continued spread of Covid-19 in the country and the need to protect MCAs, staff and the public from infection and to prevent the spread of the disease,” they said in the affidavit.
They said the adjournment was in compliance with the directives issued by the National Emergency and Response Committee on restrictions on large public gatherings.
“The nationwide curfew together with other public emergency measures currently under implementation by the national government, state agencies and other organs of government including the Judiciary are aimed at containing the spread of Covid-19 in the country,” the MCAs said.
They said it is not in the public interest and safety that the county assembly of Kirinyaga should reconvene for its fourth session.
However, the county assembly represented by Ndegwa Njiru said the house will make sufficient arrangements to protect the members.
Edited by peter obuya