Nairobi County Speaker, Beatrice Elachi, is the woman to watch as she now has a chance to make history as the first-ever female governor in an acting capacity for the Nairobi City County. This is according to the Constitution of Kenya 2010, Article 182 (4), which indicates she could be next in line.
In light of the charges levelled against Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on counts of graft, corruption, abuse of office among others, the Anti-Corruption Court in Milimani, Nairobi on Tuesday, December 11, barred Sonko from accessing his office after releasing him on bail. Sonko joined a growing list of governors barred from office, with Moses Lenolkulal (Samburu) and Ferdinand Waititu (Kiambu) having their roles taken over, albeit temporarily , by their deputies.
Nairobi, however, is a unique case since the county has been for over a year without a deputy governor after the resignation of Polycarp Igathe in January 2018 barely six months after assuming office.
Article 182 (4) of the Constititon reads; "If a vacancy occurs in the office of county governor and that of deputy county governor, or if the deputy county governor is unable to act, the speaker of the county assembly shall act as county governor." Lawyers have argued that being barred from office cannot be intepreted to mean there is a vacancy, but it is possible that the speaker can assume the role just like the deputy governors in the Samburu and Kiambu cases.
Elachi's journey to her current position has not been rosy. After barely a year into office, a petition to impeach her was tabled and supported by 103 out of 107 MCAs in September 2018 for what they termed as 'gross misconduct', conflict of interest, undermining the county assembly board, abuse of office and failure to show leadership.
At the time, Elachi argued that MCAs had only voted her out after being pressured into signing the petition for her ouster.
After almost slightly over one year, Elachi was reinstated to her position by the courts. She then made her memorable grand entrance at the assembly at 8 a.m. on the morning of October 9, 2019.
"I have been the speaker all along and I am now back to bring sanity at this assembly. It is time we say enough is enough," said Ms Elachi.
Hailing from a family of five in Kakamega, the mother of nine has so far survived three impeachment plots since assuming office.
She is an alumnus of the Moi Girls High School where she sat for her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, before joining the Africa Nazarene University in pursuit of a Peace and Security Studies degree. She did however, have to take a small pause in her education for a short period in which her parents separated to deal with the changes.
Elachi also intimated to The Standard that she once served as a Catholic nun. Despite the personal challenges, she did return to her studies and continued to attain a masters degree in the same field.
What can be considered a unique trait of the Nairobi County speaker is her endearing passion for women, especially those interested in leadership.
In 2010, Beatrice served as the programs officer for the United Nations Program for Women in collaboration with the National Council of Women of Kenya and also the Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development. The Women movement under the UN saw her become a trainer for women parliamentarians.
Elachi prior to this made her debut into national politics in 2005 during the highly-contested Constitutional referendum when she joined the Banana Team that would see her her rise to the position of outreach manager for the Kibaki Tena campaign in 2007.
In another interview, Elachi disclosed that she was inspired by former Chief Justice, Willy Mutunga, and the late Transport Cabinet Secretary, John Michuki.
Elachi wasted no time with her political venture as in the time between 2010 and 2013 she also served as the Secretary General of the Alliance Party of Kenya (APK), which was founded by the current Governor of Meru County, Kiraitu Murungi. Under the APK, Elachi was nominated to the Senate.
It was at this point that fortune began to smile on her when she was selected as the Majority Chief Whip at the Senate, making her the first woman to ever serve in this capacity in the history of Kenya's Parliament.
Her boldness was further challenged when she won the Jubilee primaries under the Jubilee Alliance to vie for Dagoretti North Constituency in April 2017.
Elachi lost this contest to her ODM counterpart, Paul Simba Arati. She would then be elected Speaker of the County Assembly of Nairobi in September 2017, making her one of the only five women deputy speakers in the 47 county assemblies.
