Maraga and Matiang'i should intervene to end Nyamira County Assembly wrangles

Former Chief Justice David Maraga. [FILE, Standard]

The negative publicity that Nyamira has received, all due to leadership wrangles, calls for sobriety and serious soul-searching by those elected to various offices in the county.

In addition, the county’s gallant sons, retired Chief Justice David Maraga and Former CS Fred Matiang’i, should step forward and help seek a truce between the wrangling MCAs. 

Nyamira has earned notoriety and is a perfect example of how not to run a county, thanks to endless supremacy squabbles among her elected leaders. 

The shambolic management of Nyamira affairs reached a climax last week when the county assembly held two separate sittings with each side claiming legitimacy.  

One ‘assembly’ held its sittings at Manga trading centre in Kitutu Masaba with besieged speaker Enock Okero and his appointed interim clerk presiding. 

At that session, Okero had a room set up with all the trappings of a debating chamber. He had a ‘mace’ and his orderlies in tow in full uniforms. 

At the gazetted Chambers in Nyamira town about 7 km away, the other camp led by deputy speaker Thadious Nyabaro was busy conducting what it believes was legitimate business.

The chaotic scenes started a month ago when a group of 23 MCAs voted speaker Enock okero out, citing what they termed incompetence. 

Already Okero has moved to court to challenge his ouster which he argues was illegal. As the court delves into the wrangles bedeviling the county leadership, other elected leaders led by Governor Amos Nyaribo seem unbothered.

The governor, who the MCAs have attempted in vain to impeach twice, has kept aloof as operations at the assembly continue to be disrupted.

Equally, other leaders among them Senator Okong’o Omogeni have failed to offer leadership as services continue being hampered.

One would have expected these elected leaders of the tiny county to call the assembly to order. Maintaining a studious silence is failing to prove their leadership acumen as seniors to the MCAs.

After his impeachment, Okero moved to court and got orders that allowed him to continue serving. However since then, he has not been able to chair any session in the gazetted chambers but has instead been doing so from elsewhere. 

Convinced he is still the boss, Okero even declared a sine die of the assembly, giving his opponents three months to seek truce with him or have the assembly dissolved. 

As the leaders wrangle over who is legally in charge of the assembly, residents are counting losses as their MCAs are focusing more on the standoff at the expense of service delivery.

Many areas in the agricultural-rich county remain impassable, due to the poor state of roads. Hospitals lack medicine while market centres are eyesores for failure by the executive to collect garbage.  

Many locals now feel it is the high time the chaotic scenes are addressed once and for all or alternatively the county government be dissolved. 

In fact, there are good reasons for the county government to be dissolved considering that the governor has no good working relationship with the MCAs who are, once again, said to be considering another impeachment motion against him and the fact that the assembly itself is wrangling over leadership.

Mr Omanga is a media practitioner. [email protected]