Garissa MCAs withdraw ouster motion against Speaker Ibrahim Abass

 Members of Garissa County Assembly (MCAs) have withdrawn a motion to impeach their Speaker Ibrahim Abass.

In a letter to the assembly clerk on Thursday, Maalimin Ward representative Mohamud Aden, expressed his intention to withdraw the impeachment motion.

This comes barely a week after 36 ward representatives signed a petition to impeach the assembly Speaker, whom they accused of incompetence and gross misconduct.

They had planned to initiate ouster proceedings on Tuesday.

This is not the first time Mr Abass is facing an impeachment motion. Early last year, some MCAs started the impeachment process which flopped after it failed due to lack of quorum. 

“After consultations with all the stakeholders and pursuant of standing orders No 48 (1) of the Garissa County Assembly, I have decided to voluntarily and unconditionally withdraw the said motion with immediate effect,” Mr Aden stated in his letter to the clerk.

He urged the clerk to acknowledge receipt of the letter and mark the said motion as duly withdrawn for the record and the larger interest of the people of Garissa County.

Garissa MCAs had accused the speaker of running the house business in total disregard to the rules and procedures.

Garissa Governor Ali Korane had described the plot to impeach the Speaker as “an exercise in futility.”

On Thursday, the governor took to his Facebook page to laud the MCA’s decision to withdraw the impeachment motion against the Speaker.

“I thank the Garissa County Assembly MCAs for unanimously and unconditionally withdrawing the proposed impeachment motion against speaker Ibrahim Abass. They have indeed chosen unity and cohesion over division and conflict. I am proud of them,” read the post.

The Speaker, who is the former Ijara MP, is a confidant of Governor Korane

Mr Aden, the mover of the motion, said they had to respect their elders and other leaders who had intervened.