MCAs renew battle to oust Machakos Speaker after court ruling

Machakos County Assembly Speaker Ann Kiusya. [Erastus Mulwa, Standard]

Embattled Machakos County Assembly Speaker Ann Kiusya is not out of the woods yet after a section of MCAs revived a Motion to kick her out of office.

Riding on a judgement by the High Court, Leader of Majority, Nicholas Nzioka, has started mobilising numbers to send Kiusya home.

In March, the Speaker moved to the court to block her impeachment, citing legal and constitutional gaps.

But last week, Justice Rhoda Rutto, sitting in Machakos, declared the Motion legal, noting the Speaker’s petition on March 26 had been brought prematurely.

On Monday, Nzioka said his colleagues were ready to exploit the opportunity presented by the court.

“I can confirm that as the sponsor of the Motion, we have affirmed our intention to proceed with the impeachment and as the House Business Committee, we have informed the clerk to have the item included in the order paper. The members of HBC will then be called to decide when the Motion will be tabled on the floor of the House,” said the Machakos Central Ward Rep.

On the same day, Deputy Speaker Stephen Mwanthi wrote a protest letter to the clerk, accusing him of obstructing the cause of justice in the planned impeachment.

The Ekalakala MCA invoked Section 11 (6) of the County Government Act that forbids the Speaker from performing any of the functions of the office once a notice of Motion of removal from office has been served.

But at the same time, eight MCAs, including the Majority Leader, could lose their seats for alleged failure to attend eight sittings without explanation.

In letters dated September 8, Speaker Kiusya demanded the MCAs to explain in writing within seven days why their seats should not be declared vacant.

It remains to be seen how the battle will shape up even as residents continue to accuse MCAs and the Speaker of turning the assembly into a theatre of politics and supremacy wars.