Ruth Odinga, sister to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has disputed the move by her brother and President William Ruto to save Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja from impeachment.
While speaking to members of the press, Odinga criticized the Nairobi Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) for dropping their plan to impeach Sakaja, which happened after separate meetings with Ruto and Raila.
While faulting the move to halt the impeachment motion, she cited the oversight role of MCAs in the counties, and affirmed that the MCAs should have been allowed to proceed with their plan to oust Sakaja.
“One of the main tenets of devolution is that MCAs are oversighters of the county government. Therefore, the fact that the MCAs of Nairobi came out, and said that they had no confidence in the Governor of Nairobi, should have been recognised and nothing should have been done,” Odinga stated.
“They (Nairobi MCAs) should have been allowed to go through with the petition. So that, in case they felt wronged, they should have impeached him and sent him to the Senate. But to stop the process, when there were already grievances, was very disappointing,” she added.
Odinga, the Kisumu Woman Representative, opined that the move by MCAs to drop the impeachment drive came at the cost of devolution and oversight, components that are deeply entrenched in the Constitution.
“They should have upheld the tenet of devolution that states that MCAs were in charge of oversighting the Governor. So for me, I am very clear and categorical, that the MCAs of Nairobi have let down the people of Nairobi,” she averred.
Ruto, Raila & Sakaja's Impeachment
On Tuesday, September 2, Raila held a closed-door meeting with Sakaja and ODM-allied MCAs at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation (JOOF), during which he persuaded them to suspend their push for impeachment. The discussions were aimed at creating space for dialogue and reconciliation between the Governor and the Assembly.
The developments were confirmed to Kenyans.co.ke by a source who attended the meeting, as well as Nairobi County ODM Chairperson George Aladwa.
Aladwa announced that the ODM MCAs had agreed to put the impeachment bid on hold for one month, giving Governor Sakaja time to adjust his leadership approach and mend ties with the Assembly.
Aladwa also revealed that Sakaja acknowledged all the accusations the MCAs levelled and apologised to them during the meeting.
''We have deliberated for nearly four hours, and the MCAs have raised all their concerns. Nairobi leadership, as well as the party, has also resolved to drop the impending impeachment to allow us to correct the wrong,'' Aladwa said.
On the other hand, Ruto convened a separate UDA meeting at State House, Nairobi, where he cautioned them against pursuing the ouster motion.
The developments came after both ODM and UDA MCAs had gathered over 70 signatures out of 123, with a bid to present an impeachment motion at the Nairobi County Assembly. They required at least 82 signatures to table an official motion of impeachment.
Key grievances that they had raised included the failure of the first-term Governor to fulfil campaign promises, delays in disbursing bursaries, and the stalled Ward Development Fund. The MCAs also accused him of neglecting the needs of Nairobi residents and ignoring the priorities of the county’s wards.
