• The Employment and Labor Relations court on Tuesday issued conservatory orders against the motion.
• Justice Nzioki Makau barred the assembly from discussing the impeachment motion pending Inter parties hearing on Thursday.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
MCAs pushing to impeach Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on Tuesday pledged to persist with the motion despite a temporary court injunction against them.
The Employment and Labor Relations Court on Tuesday issued conservatory orders against the motion.
Justice Nzioki Makau barred the assembly from discussing the impeachment motion pending an inter-parties hearing on Thursday.
The assembly leadership headed by Minority Whip Peter Imwatok dismissed the stay order, arguing it had been wrongly filed at the Employment and Labour Relations Court, instead of the Constitutional Court.
“We are going to proceed with the impeachment motion because it is the right of any elected MCA to bring any motion before the assembly,” he said.
The MCAs also said they are still expecting the governor to appear before the assembly on Thursday .
Sonko has been accused of gross violation of the Constitution, gross misconduct and abuse of office.
Imwatok said the Employment Court has no legal mandate stopping MCAs from impeaching the governor because he is not an employee of the Public Service Board.
He said the Supreme Court had already set a precedent in the case of Governor Martin Wambora, ruling that courts cannot interfere with the operations of an assembly.
“The motion before the county assembly touches on the lives of Nairobi residents. This assembly has equal powers to the High Court and in line with this we shall proceed and exercise our constitutional mandate,” Imwatok added.
The Minority Whip also said the list of 86 MCA who signed the notice of impeachment motion last week will be made public, denying claims the signatures were forged. The assembly has 85 elected and 38 nominated MCAs.
The MCAs also condemned the police brutality on Monday when cops fired tear gas to disperse ward representatives allied to the governor.
“We support diversity of ideas and at the same time we don't support hearsay of the assembly,” Imwatok said.
Minority Leader Michael Ogada assured MCAs he will proceed with his motion and alleged their counterparts allied to the governor were broke and money was offered to them to withdraw the motion.
He said he also had been offered money to withdraw the motion but refused.
Ogada denied claims MCAs had been coerced into signing the notice of motion to impeach, saying everyone acted independently.
“Interestingly, the same MCAs were begging us not to release the list to the public. We are used to such actions," he said.
Majority Leader Abdi Hassan said the motion will be debated on Thursday.
On Monday, 82 MCAs allied to Governor Sonko claimed to have signed an affidavit in support of the county boss and said they will not participate in the impeachment debate.
Led by nominated MCA Silvia Museiya, the ward reps dismissed the 86 signatures that were said to have been submitted last week when Minority Leader Ogada gave the notice of impeachment.
“We are here to make it clear that the signatures purported to have been collected were forged and were from an earlier Kamukunji that was held," she said.
Waithaka MCA Antony Kiragu had called upon President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to have a dialogue with the assembly regarding the impeachment plan.
He claimed the leadership had intimidated and arm-twisted the MCAs but said they will not budge from their demands.
“We will not be led to in-house fights due to a purported impeachment motion against Sonko who was elected with close to one million voters in Nairobi,” Kiragu said.
“Our leadership should abide by the law and drop the impeachment motion and either shape up or ship out but we will not be led to another war,” he added.
The MCAs also pledged to support the Building Bridges Initiative and Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
Also read a similar story on page 23.
(Edited by V. Graham)