Nairobi News

NewsWhat's Hot

Kileleshwa rep survives ouster attempt


An attempt to table a motion to remove City County Assembly Majority Leader Elias Otieno was nipped in the bud in a dramatic amendment to the Standing Orders.

County Reps, mostly drawn from the Cord Coalition, wanted to remove Otieno from the powerful seat after he allegedly threatened to shoot a female colleague last week in the presence of Speaker Alex Ole Magelo.

To counter the move, Mr Otieno rallied Jubilee members to bulldoze the House to move an amendment that would require a two-third majority to remove leaders in the assembly.

The amendment roped in positions of chairmen and Minority leader, who require a simple majority to be removed from office. They will now require a higher threshold to be ousted.

The inclusion of chairmen in the amendment did the trick as chairmen of various committees who have been facing rebellion from members supported the motion tabled by the chairman of the House Rules and Procedures, Mr Ken Ng’ondi.

Those in Jubilee were most vocal because their chairmen are heading committees where they are the minority and have been threatened with removal by their Majority colleagues.

Mr Ng’ondi, who is also the deputy speaker, sat next to Otieno and consulted with him as members contributed.

“We elect people because we believe they can deliver. The time we have had them is not enough to remove someone on account of performance,” said Ngondi. He said the new amendment was also being used at the National Assembly.

“We must give leaders time to work. We cannot start removing leaders barely a year in office,” said Pipeline County Rep Samuel Kagiri.

Minority leader Abdi Guyo led his jubilee members to support the motion, apparently to save “committee chairmen from regular removals”.

Trade committee chairman Peter Warutere said: “I heard some people wanted to remove me simply because they are the majority . We must have a tighterrules to avoid witch hunting.”

But a section of Cord County Reps loudly opposed the motion. Makongeni’s Peter Imatwok (Cord) said, “We must fight impunity. Some leaders here have become very dishonourable and should be removed as per the current rules.”