Sonko Impeachment Still on - Nairobi MCA to Uhuru

President Uhuru Kenyatta addressing Members of Nairobi's Count Assembly at State House on February 29, 2020.
President Uhuru Kenyatta addressing Members of Nairobi's Count Assembly at State House on February 29, 2020.
PSCU

UPDATE: Monday, March 2: The High Court has temporarily barred Nairobi MCAs from discussing the impeachment motion against Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.

Citizen TV was first to report on Monday, March 2, that High Court judge Byrum Ongaya ruled that the motion should not proceed until it is filed in compliance with the Standing Orders of the County Assembly.

“The proposed motion by the MCA for the proposed impeachment as scheduled for Tuesday shall not proceed until due compliance of the standing order number 67 is complied with,” ruled the judge.


Sonko's relief comes after the Minority Whip in the Nairobi County Assembly Peter Imwatok promised to carry on with the impeachment motion.

Imwatok vowed to table the motion against Governor Sonko despite President Uhuru Kenyatta's directive that the city MCAs shelve it.

Makongeni MCA Peter Imwatok speaks to reporters in Nairobi in January 2020.
Makongeni MCA Peter Imwatok speaks to reporters in Nairobi in January 2020
File

In a report by the Daily Nation on Sunday, March 1, Imwatok indicated that he will still move the motion in the assembly floors this coming week.

"It is a private motion and it has not been affected by the meeting. I will still bring it on Tuesday," Imwatok stated in reference to the meeting between the President and the Nairobi MCAs.

Imwatok was among a host of MPs allied to the ODM party who did not attend the meeting called by President Kenyatta at State House since he was in Kisumu for a burial.

He and other MCAs, including Minority Leader David Mberia, who was attending the BBI forum in Meru, lamented that they had received late communication from State House and thus could not honour the meeting.

President Uhuru Kenyatta summoned MCAs to State House on February 29, to convince them that State takeover was a much better option compared to the ouster of Governor Mike Sonko.

The meeting, which was reported to have lasted for three hours, was attended by 15 MCAs from the Nairobi region.

Also present was Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka, Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa, Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, and Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi.

At the meeting, the President urged the MCAs to focus on the Big 4 Agenda instead of the impeachment motion, according to Roysambu MCA Peter Warutere.

In an audio recording shared by Sonko's Communications Director Jacob Elkana, Warutere explained that the president had urged them to focus on the big 4 agenda.

"Hakuna maneno ya impeachment tena, ametuambia tufocus on his big 4 agenda, maneno ya health, maneno ya roads (the impeachment move was quashed. We were told to focus on his big 4 agenda key among them health and roads)," the MCA revealed.

President Uhuru Kenyatta (centre) with Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko (to his right) pose alongside his Members of the Nairobi County Assembly at State House on February 29, 2020.
President Uhuru Kenyatta (centre) with Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko (to his right) pose alongside his Members of the Nairobi County Assembly at State House on February 29, 2020.
PSCU