• The melee brought activities at the chambers to a standstill for more than 20 minutes before normalcy returned.
•Armed security officers who had been deployed to the assembly watched from a distance as the disgruntled member hurled insults.
Chaos rocked the Bomet county assembly on Friday morning during the election of a speaker after Embomos Mca Robert Serbai grabbed the mace and attempted to flee with it.
Chaos rocked the Bomet county assembly on Friday morning during the election of a speaker after Embomos Mca Robert Serbai grabbed the mace and attempted to flee with it.
The ugly incident happened moments after the acting speaker Wesley Kiprotich, who was presiding over the session, announced the winner after the end of vote counting where lawyer Nelson Mutai trounced six other candidates to emerge the new speaker.
Serbai was, however, stopped by the sergeant art arms and forced out of the chambers.
The ward representative had earlier claimed that the members had been bribed to vote for a particular candidate. He also alleged that Konoin sub county has been sidelined and 'starved' of crucial positions in the county.
"For how long will Konoin be sidelined in this county? The position of the county secretary and that of the executive committee member for agriculture which were previously held by persons from the area have all been taken to other sub counties," he posed.
He added, "We never got justice at all because some external forces influenced this, which tells you the county assembly is no longer independent."
The melee brought activities at the chambers to a standstill for more than 20 minutes before normalcy returned.
Armed security officers who had been deployed to the assembly watched from a distance as the disgruntled member hurled insults.
The Nairobi based lawyer Mutai emerged the winner, garnering 27 votes while his other contender Wilfred Lesan getting zero votes.
Cheruiyot Tamogei got one vote, Cherotich Joan two, Edwin Sitienei two and Weldon Chirchir three. Mutai is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya at Kandie Mutai & co. advocates.
He has a bachelor's degree in Commercial and criminal law from Moi university and a Master of Arts in public policy and administration from Kenyatta University.
In his speech, the new speaker stated that he will work together with the executive to ensure the set agenda is realised while at the same time observing the separation of roles between the two arms.
Lesan on his part thanked the new speaker but expressed his disappointment saying MCAs ought to have considered regional balance in the election of the new speaker.