Wajir MCAs fight signifies return of bitter wars from previous assembly
Wajir County Assembly clerk Shalle Sheikh Mursal reading orders and motions to be discussed before the assembly degenerated into chaos on October 5, 2022.
Divisions have hit the Wajir County Assembly after members fought during the first session, signifying a return of rows that dominated the last House.
Some United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ward reps from Wajir South constituency protested in the chambers on Wednesday, disrupting activities.
This was the first session of the House since the members were elected and selected their Speaker.
The agitated MCAs, who were unhappy about the selection of House leaders, stood on tables and started banging them. Others threw chairs at their colleagues. This happened as the Speaker announced assembly positions.
The MCAs claimed the Speaker and the clerk favoured members of one clan in the nominations.
“He used his own process and individuals advising him to favour a clan and to make a coalition to favour a clan. Anything that will happen from here onwards is upon the Speaker and the clerk,” one MCA said.
The MCAs from Wajir South claimed a whole region had been sidelined in the selection of House leaders.
“The Speaker and the clerk have conspired with the members of UDM [United Democratic Movement] and Maendeleo Chap Chap and the Justice and Freedom Party of Kenya, which does not belong to any coalition,” said Habbaswein MCA Ahmed Hajji Diis.
They vowed to seek legal redress to block the new leaders from taking their positions until a case in the Mombasa High Court is determined.
In that case, UDM and Maendeleo Chap Chap have challenged their membership in the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party.
The MCAs protested the appointment of the majority and minority leaders of the assembly.
The assembly session was adjourned but proceeded in the afternoon.
Eight members of the House Business Committee were approved, as were 13 members of the Selection Committee.
Speaker Abdille Yusuf maintained that the lists for both committees were well constituted.
The chaos in the assembly recalled the differences that hit the previous House, a majority of whose members were defeated in the August polls.
The rows led to the impeachment of Governor Mohammed Abdi Muhamud before the courts reinstated him.
Mr Muhamud lost to former Governor Ahmed Abdullahi in the August 9 elections.
