Sakaja meets Azimio MCAs as impeachment talks continue to mount

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja yesterday summoned Azimio Members of County Assembly for a closed-door meeting as the MCAs resume sittings today (Tuesday) after long recess.

The meeting comes amid murmurs of impeachment that have been making rounds at City Hall for several months now. 

The message to summon Azimio MCAs was delivered by Majority Whip Moses Ogeto who did not reveal the agenda of the meeting ruling out impeachment talks.

 “I’m the one who sent the invite to the Azimio MCA’s. The agenda is not about the impeachment talks, the governors know it because he is the one who invited us for the meeting,” the Kilimani Ward MCA responded.

The impeachment talk was sparked by Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai two weeks ago while throwing a barb at Governor Sakaja stating that he was spending most of his time with Raila Odinga to look for ways to save himself.

Even so, some Azimio MCA’s, mostly those that have been keeping the Executive on its toes, claim they were not invited for the meeting at Sakaja’s private office in Riverside drive.

The meeting comes days after Sakaja was spotted in the company of  Azimio leader Raila Odinga in his Opoda farm in Bondo over the weekend during the social reunion of the Sakwa People's Caucus at Kang'o ka Jaramogi.

Afterward, Sakaja posted on his X account in part, “The Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Museum is also one of the best collections I've seen of the history of the departed sage pathfinder Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the history of Kenya's liberation, East Africa and Africa.”

Adding that, “I also deeply appreciate the opportunity to visit my brother Fidel's final resting place, 9 years after the great Obange left us,”

While this could pass as a normal visit, the meeting between Sakaja and Raila has generated talk from both sides of the political divide at City Hall.

In the Nairobi County assembly, the Azimio coalition has majority members, while the Kenya Kwanza that gave Sakaja his ticket to run in the 2022 governor's race is the minority.

But for a long time, Sakaja has been accused of leaning towards Azimio yet he was elected via UDA ticket which belongs to the Kenya Kwanza coalition.

This was the case when he picked some members from the opposition and offered them plum jobs in the County.

Deputy Minority Leader Waithera Chege argues that an impeachment will only come when there is a substantive notice of motion and that she will only participate if there was one.

“Most of those people are not serious. They are just doing it because of interest. And once their interest is settled, then the whole thing is dropped,” she noted.

She added, “There are more than a thousand reasons to impeach the governor. However, it must be led by people who fully understand this county. Because we have so many reasons,”

“And this agenda can only go somewhere if both Raila Odinga and William Ruto stood their ground and said that Nairobi is going in the wrong direction, and therefore now we are directing our members to go and vote for the impeachment,” Waithera said.

The Nairobi South Member said the current state of the City, requires intervention by both Raila Odinga and William Ruto to bring in NMS.

 “The two elected leaders, who are the governor and the deputy governor, are not taking Nairobi anywhere. Yes, I would like to ask that we bring back NMS as long as it's politics as usual, Nairobi is going nowhere. The most serious agendas on that house are not supported because there is no agenda against the governor that can go through on the floor of that house,” She said.

Kayole Central Member Jeremiah Themendu (UDA) for instance dismissed the Azimio meeting that the Kenya Kwanza have never pushed for the agenda but sticking to the role of oversight.

“Some people are pushing the impeachment agenda so as to divert attention because nothing is working in Nairobi, at the Ward levels projects have stalled,” Themendu said.

He added, “Both MCAs from Azimio and Kenya Kwanza are not happy, and what we want to tell the governor is how things should run smoothly. We will have our own sitting as Kenya Kwanza side and we want to ask Sakaja tough questions.”

Ngei Ward Member Redson Otieno (ODM) confirmed the meeting, pointing accusing fingers at those around Sakaja, mostly his advisors over some mishaps in the county.

On his part, Dandora 1 Member Allan Gathuku downplayed impeached talks stating that it might not pass at the moment when President Ruto and Raila Odinga are on good terms.