Embattled Nairobi Clerk Jacob Ngwele back in office

Embattled Nairobi Clerk Jacob Ngwele has returned to his office after months of being locked out by Speaker Beatrice Elachi.

This comes after a court and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) affirmed that he is in office legally.

He was accompanied by a section of Nairobi MCAs on Thursday as he made his return to City Hall.

Early this month, the EACC affirmed that Mr Ngwele was legally appointed as the assembly’s clerk after investigations by the anti-graft agency.

Last week, the Central Bank also acknowledged his position as the clerk in its letter to Ms who had tried to remove him as a signatory to the assembly’s accounts.

Ms Elachi and Mr Ngwele have been involved in protracted dispute that began after their fallout in early 2018

The feud resurfaced last year following the return of Ms Elachi as the assembly speaker. She was impeached in September 2018 but the court reinstated her in October 2019.

Immediately after her return, the speaker sent Mr Ngwele on compulsory leave to give room for investigations over alleged sabotage of the assembly despite a court order barring her.

Ms Monicah Muthami was appointed as acting clerk a week later effectively replacing Mr Ngwele at the board.

An ad hoc committee of the assembly was later formed which in its report revoked the appointment of Mr Ngwele as the assembly’s clerk on grounds of gross violation of Section 18(2) of the County Assembly Services Act.

Mr Ngwele was locked out of his office by MCAs allied to Speaker Elachi but he got reprieve from the court after his ouster struck out in November 2019.

But Mt Ngwele was able to go to his office because he had been battling court cases over his position.