The process to elect a new speaker at the County Assembly of Nairobi has started hours after Beatrice Elachi resigned from the post amidst assembly wrangles.
In one of the local dailies today, Acting Clerk of the County Assembly Pauline Akuku moved swiftly to notify the public of the vacancy, inviting all interested but qualified persons to apply for the position.
“Accordingly, the office of the Clerk invites interested persons, who qualify to be elected for the position of the Speaker of the County Assembly to download nomination forms from the Nairobi City County Assembly website,” reads the notice.
This was in pursuant to Article 178(1) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 which provides that each County Assembly shall have a Speaker elected from among persons who are not Members of the County Assembly as read together with Section 7 of the County Governments (Amendment) Act, 2020, Section 25 of the Elections Act, 2011 and the Nairobi City County Assembly Standing Orders.
Akuku also announced that the election of the Speaker shall be held at the County Assembly Plenary Chamber, this Friday at 9.00 am.
Elachi was elected as the Speaker of the County Assembly on September 6, 2017 and got 90 votes with her closest rival Ali Abdi getting 27 votes.
George Wainaina got four votes while Karen Nyamu only got one vote.