Nairobi MCAs initiate bid to impeach ‘incompetent’ Speaker
Nairobi County Assembly members have initiated the process of impeaching Speaker Alex Ole Magelo over alleged incompetence.
The mover of the impeachment motion, Makongeni MCA Peter Imwatok, told Nairobi News that he has already collected 56 signatures across the political divide in support of the motion.
“I have support of 21 Jubilee and 35 Cord MCAs who believe that the Speaker should be impeached because he is serving his personal interests in the assembly,”said Mr Imwatok in a telephone interview.
At least one third of the 127 members need to sign the motion for it to be approved for debate by the Speaker.
The motion to impeach the Speaker comes three days after Viwandani MCA Samuel Nyangwara finally tabled a motion to impeach Governor Evans Kidero amid chaotic scenes.
But Mr Imwatok blamed Tuesday’s chaos in the chamber on the Speaker after he failed to be in the house during the first attempt to table it.
Mr Imwatok claimed the Speaker had signed the notice of motion at 7pm, which past the working hours, and left for Mombasa on September29, leaving the deputy speaker to preside over.
“The chaos in the assembly is because of the Speaker who decided to delegate a serious motion to impeach the governor to the deputy Speaker. He should have been there himself,” said Mr Imwatok.
The Makongeni MCA, in his motion, has accused the Speaker of eroding the dignity, character and esteem of MCAs.
“We are concerned that the Speaker has failed in his duty as enshrined in the constitution to protect the dignity, honour and respect of this assembly,” the motion reads.
He added that the speaker has been partisan by openly ignoring the contribution of some members in the assembly.
Mr Imwatok said the motion is in the Clerk’s office and he will table it on Tuesday, the same day that Governor Kidero will be appearing before the assembly to defend himself against his proposed impeachment.
Meanwhile, the County Assembly Public Service Board has locked out the Majority Chief Whip David Mberia from his office for “misbehaving” during the tabling of the motion to impeach Dr Kidero.
“I am now working on the corridors after I was told that my office was taken away because I misbehaved in the assembly chambers,” Mr Mberia told Nairobi News.