Tuju, Elachi clash over House leadership changes
The row over changes in the Jubilee Party leadership at Nairobi County Assembly has escalated with Speaker Beatrice Elachi taking the fight to the party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju’s doorstep.
Mr Tuju had on Wednesday made it clear that the changes made by the party at the county assembly in April were final. He warned that anyone opposed to the changes would be disciplined by the party.
EFFECT CHANGES
Ms Elachi said the “intended” changes by Jubilee have fallen short of requirements of provisions of the laws governing the assembly.
In a seven-page ruling on Thursday, Ms Elachi said that Mr Tuju had no role in communicating to the Speaker a decision to effect changes in the party’s House leadership.
While she acknowledged that a political party has the onus of nominating its leadership in the Assembly, she clarified that after the elections, the replacement and removal of leaders shall be subjected to the rules and procedures of the assembly.
She said that the assembly’s Standing Orders 20 (7), (8) and (9) is clear on the procedure for removal and designation of the majority party leadership.
STANDING ORDERS
She said that her role as the Speaker is to arbitrate conflicts that may arise on the floor and guide the assembly to ensure strict adherence to its Standing Orders.
“In the current circumstance, the decision to effect the changes was communicated to my office by the Secretary General of the Jubilee Party who is certainly not the majority whip in this county assembly,” said Ms Elachi.
The provisions of the aforementioned Standing Order provides that the largest party or coalition of parties in the county assembly shall designate a member of the county assembly belonging to the party or coalition of parties to be the leader of the majority party.
The member may be removed by the party or coalition of parties that designated him or her by two-thirds of votes of all members of the largest party or coalition of parties in the county assembly.
The whip of the largest party or coalition of parties in the county assembly shall forthwith, upon a decision being made under this Standing Order, communicate to the Speaker, in writing, the decision together with the minutes of the meeting at which the decision was made.
DESIRED CHANGES
The removal of a member from office shall be followed by the designation of another member in his place in the manner provided for in the Standing Order within 48 hours.
In line of the above provisions, Ms Elachi said that the communication by Mr Tuju on the changes failed to meet the requirements.
“In view of the foregoing, I am unable to act on the correspondence from the secretary general of the Jubilee Party and cannot effect the desired changes in the form so presented,” she said.
This, the speaker said, is in line with precedence set by the Senate in the removal of senators Moses Wetang’ula and Kipchumba Murkomen as minority leader and majority leader respectively.
In the changes, Matopeni MCA Abdi Guyo was reinstated as majority leader, taking over from Dandora Area 3 MCA Charles Thuo, who had been holding the position since November last year.
Mihang’o Ward MCA Paul Kados was appointed majority whip. He replaced nominated MCA June Ndegwa.
Mr Guyo is to be deputised by Dandora Area 1 MCA Peter Wanyoike, while South B MCA Waithera Chege will deputise Mr Kados. Mr Wanyoike replaced Ziwani MCA Millicent Mugadi while Ms Waithera replaced California MCA Abdikadir Mohamed.
PROPER CONSULTATION
The changes have, however, been contested by the interim leadership led by Mr Thuo and Ms Ndegwa saying that they were effected without proper consultation.
Nonetheless, Mr Tuju on Wednesday made it clear that the replaced leaders were only appointed into the positions on an interim basis.
Ms Elachi said no standing order provides for interim party leadership.
“As far as the county assembly is concerned, once a leadership has procedurally been removed and replaced, it does not concern the county assembly whether in the eyes of the party the leadership so designated is interim or not,” she said.
The speaker also faulted the reinstatement of Mr Guyo saying that she had written to the party on April 25, 2020 saying that the member was facing suspension from the assembly for missing sittings.
Mr Guyo was suspended on Tuesday for missing four assembly sitting months. The assembly adopted a report of the Select Committee on Powers and Privileges that found the MCA guilty of missing 11 consecutive assembly sittings.
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