Members of Mandera County Assembly Locked in Police Station After Fistfight

Four legislators serving in the Mandera County Assembly are currently held at the Mandera Police Station after they were arrested over an ugly scuffle that resulted in the theft of a mace and interruption of a session where a Sh1.7 Billion supplementary budget was being tabled.

The Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) differed over the tabling of the supplementary budget that they had rejected last week on Thursday.

One of the MCAs allied to the governor had tried to reintroduce the same motion on Wednesday afternoon, a move that resulted in violent exchange of blows between the two camps.

As the fistfight continued on the floor of the County Assembly, Rhamu ward MCA Isaack Dahir grabbed the mace and ran with it outside the hall.

Police had to be called in to restore calm.

Following the dramatic incident, a section of the MCAs were arrested and locked in at the Mandera Police Station.

The session ended and is yet to resume since the Mace is yet to be recovered.

Mandera is one of the counties adversely affected by the drought situation in the country and the area governor had introduced the supplementary budget to mitigate the dire situation.

Opposing MCAs have stated the budget would not be passed without the payments for completed tenders.

The mace is a gold-coloured metal that is used symbolically in parliaments of commonwealth countries, without which parliamentary business cannot continue.

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