• Legislators allied to Elachi said they will go after Sonko, whom they accuse of being behind the speaker’s woes.
•“We are going to start the process tomorrow because he has let us down and we have got nothing to do with him. He should allow Badi to continue serving the people of Nairobi,” Embakasi MCA, Michael Ogada, said.
Wrangles at the County Assembly of Nairobi took a new turn on Monday after a section of MCAs threatened to impeach Governor Mike Sonko.
This comes a day after 51 MCAs drawn from both Jubilee and ODM party appended their signatures in a bid to impeach Speaker Beatrice Elachi for the second time.
However, on Monday, legislators allied to Elachi said they will go after Sonko, whom they accuse of being behind the speaker’s woes.
“We are going to start the process tomorrow because he has let us down and we have got nothing to do with him. He should allow Badi to continue serving the people of Nairobi,” Embakasi MCA, Michael Ogada, said.
Another MCA, June Ndegwa, said,"For the past few weeks, Nairobians have witnessed a resurgent Mike Mbuvi Sonko behaving like a wounded cat pursuing revenge... we are not strangers to these theatrics."
On February 29, President Uhuru Kenyatta hosted about 115 Nairobi MCAs and urged them to drop an impeachment motion tabled by Minority Chief Whip Peter Imwatok.
Addressing the media at KICC, the MCAs said they will impeach Sonko because he is a 'failure'.
“When we tried to remove him, the state intervened. The state should allow us to do our work. We don’t want anybody from the state to come and interfere or be called. Instead of impeaching Elachi, it will be another story as we will be impeaching Sonko," Ogada stated.
Kayole Central MCA Jeremiah Karani said the Jubilee Party should move with speed and give Nairobi a deputy governor.
“ We are the ones who elected the Speaker and Elachi is going nowhere. We are reminding Jubilee which is my party to give Nairobi a deputy governor soon,” he said.
His counterpart from Baba Dogo Geoffrey Majiwa said Sonko is unfit to hold office.
“Reality has started sinking in and the governor said he was under the influence of alcohol but had lawyers and advisors while signing the deed. He still had an additional 21 days to look into the deed but he failed,” he said.
Majiwa further said that the war witnessed in Nairobi is not for Elachi but is about the Nairobi Metropolitan Service.
Sonko behind assembly woes
Elachi has attributed the recent bid by MCAs to impeach her and the woes at the County Assembly to Sonko.
“I am not immune from impeachment. Coming into this establishment I knew it was a possibility. But this one is a battle between Governor Sonko and Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) Director Mohammed Badi and I have now been roped in,” Elachi said.
The Speaker also said Sonko was behind the return of Jacob Ngwele to the assembly to forestall his pending impeachment that had been halted by the courts.
“I know he is behind this because he has been using Ngwele in all his court cases. He must now be very angry because he knows there is a new clerk who was sworn-in and that his impeachment can come out of the court now, that is the war he has with me.”She explained.
In February, the Labour and Employment court temporarily stopped the impeachment of Sonko until due process was followed.
The court directed that the county assembly adheres to standing orders 67 and 72.
Elachi further noted that her bid to also support NMS is why the MCAs allied to Governor Sonko want to impeach her.
“The MCAs calling for my impeachment know that once Elachi is out of the way then there are things Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko wants will pass at the assembly,” she said.
Elachi should face her woes
However, Sonko's spokesman Ben Mulwa dismissed Elachi’s claims and said the legislators in the assembly she leads are dissatisfied with her leadership.
He added that Sonko is not part of the assembly and that Elachi should not drag his name in her woes with MCAs.
“We have MCAs who have been vocally complaining about how she runs affairs in the assembly. It is not the governor who has been hosting goons at the assembly, it is not governor who has been disregarding an advisory from EACC, CBK and court orders," Mulwa said.
"It is not the governor who has been denying a section of MCAs from participating in debates especially when she knows she is conducting illegal business."
On the impeachment threat, Mulwa termed it “mere sideshows".
“ Those are sideshows from individuals who want to remain relevant because they want to divert Nairobians from the real issue. The governor does not sit in the assembly, therefore, he does not come in anywhere,” Mulwa said.