Elgeyo Marakwet senator Kipchumba Murkomen might find himself in a fix soon, after the latest declaration by Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka.
Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja made a special appeal to the speaker, requesting a special seating to discuss the capital city after the arrest and subsequent arraignment of Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.
Lusaka informed Sakaja that the only people with powers to ask the speaker to summon such a seating were the Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen and Minority Leader James Orengo.
“I have spoken to Senators Kipchumba Murkomen and James Orengo asking them to discuss amongst themselves on the issues brought forward by Sakaja and decide whether we should have a special meeting or not,” Lusaka revealed in an interview with Citizen TV on Friday, December 13, 2019.
The statement provided a dilemma as Murkomen is also representing the accused governor in a corruption case.
Lusaka also insisted that he was not dismissing the Nairobi senator, but was bound by the Standing Orders that govern the Senate.
The speaker added that if Murkomen and Orengo submit the request, it must be supported by a further 15 senators.
Murkomen has been under fire since he joined Sonko's defence team.
During Jamhuri Day celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that he had instructed the attorney general to fast track a law outlining possible conflict of interest cases.
“It is not right for legislators who make laws in Parliament and move forward to represent accused persons in a court that will use the same laws to issue a judgement,” remarked the president.
