Kakamega Kenya Kwanza MCAs vow to block ODM bid to oust Speaker

 

Kakamega Assembly speaker James Namatsi (far right) looks on as Governor Fernandes Barasa congratulates Dr Donald Manyala Keya after being sworn in as the 3rd clerk of the Assembly on February 13, 2024. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

A showdown is looming at the Kakamega county assembly after MCAs affiliated to United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and Amani National Congress (ANC) vowed to ensure ODM plans to impeach Speaker James Namatsi flop.

The Kenya Kwanza MCAs said the plot to impeach the Speaker is political witch-hunt since no grounds have been tabled so far to justify the decision.

The ward representatives claimed that the Speaker was being targeted after he refused to read the name of Shianda/Marenyo MCA Geoffrey Ondiro as the new Majority Leader replacing Marama West MCA Philip Maina who had been stripped of the position by ODM.

ODM wrote a letter to the Speaker asking him to effect the changes as allegedly instructed by the party chief Raila Odinga.

The Standard has established that Mr Namatsi was reluctant to effect the changes after Maina moved to court seeking to stop the changes by the Orange party.

Mayoni ward representative Fredrick Watitwa (UDA) claimed that during a meeting in Butere, Raila reportedly urged MCAs to impeach Namatsi.

Watitwa said that despite belonging to UDA, he will support the embattled Speaker.

“I believe in the Speaker’s integrity and the impeachment efforts are unjustly motivated because standing order number 58 has all that is required to impeach the Speaker including that you must have 78 per cent of members support the motion. The Speaker will not be impeached under our watch because there is no valid reason tabled before us,” he said.

He claimed that the plot to impeach the Speaker was part of a wider political strategy to destabilise Governor Fernandes Barasa's administration.

“Namatsi is being unfairly targeted to achieve ulterior political motives. You have instructed all the leaders who were elected under your party to sign the impeachment motion and we are aware of that and we won’t allow it to happen,” he said.

Watitwa asked the ODM leadership to settle their wrangles and give the governor space to work for the people.

“We respect you Raila the same way the nation respects you but I call upon you to at least give our Speaker and the county leadership time to deliver for the people of Kakamega who need development,” he said.

ODM MCA who sought anonymity confided that they have valid grounds to oust the Speaker including disregarding party communications and gross misconduct.

“I don’t want to preempt what we have but the Speaker has, on several occasions refused to implement the party communication and affairs. He was directed to announce the name of Mr Ondiro as the new Majority Leader but he has since refused,” said the MCA.

“The Central Management Committee met and decided that we have a change in leadership at assembly but the Speaker has since downplayed the communication stating that he cannot go against the court and instead he attached the court decision that blocked the ODM from doing the changes on the party communication and yet the party had requested the ousted Majority Leader to withdraw the case and solve the matter with the party.”

The MCA said that they are aware that ANC and UDA ward reps are working to ensure the impeachment motion flops and revealed that ODM has already collected 45 signatures.

“We understand the Speaker met some ANC and UDA MCAs to save him, already we have 45 signatures and we understand we are 87 members in the house and their plans will not succeed,” said the ward representative.

The Standard has established that ODM wants to have full control of the House and Raila during a night meeting at former Kakamega Governor and deputy party leader Wycliffe Oparanya's residence in Mabole village, Butere constituency, said that it was becoming difficult for the party to conduct its affairs after the Speaker declined to effect leadership changes.

However, our efforts to get Namatsi’s views on the matter were futile as he did not respond to our text messages and calls.

ODM is pushing to have former Shinyalu MP Justus Kizito, an ally of Oparanya, take over as Speaker.

Last week on Monday, over 40 out of 60 ODM and Azimio MCAs vowed to back Maina saying they will not succumb to intimidation and threats from party leaders out to micro-manage them.

“We want to remind our party that we elected Maina as our Majority Leader and we will not allow intimidation from the party even if they were to write 100 letters, we will not allow it because we want to be governed by someone who has the goodwill of the majority of the MCAs,” said deputy Speaker Bernard Shitiabayi.