UDA kicks Sakaja allies out of key posts in assembly
Nairobi County Governor Johnson Sakaja briefs the media before he signed the Nairobi County Finance Act 2023 on October 13, 2023 at City Hall.
What you need to know:
- UDA Secretary-General Cleophas Malala named Nairobi South MCA Waithera Chege as the new Minority Leader.
- Ms Chege previously served as Deputy Minority Leader and was behind the collection of signatures to remove Mr Kiragu.
Ruling party United Democratic Alliance (UDA) on Monday kicked out minority leaders at the Nairobi City County assembly, most of whom are close allies of Governor Johnson Sakaja.
The officials were accused of failing to unite members. In a statement to assembly Speaker Ken Ng’ondi, UDA Secretary-General Cleophas Malala named Nairobi South MCA Waithera Chege as the new Minority Leader, replacing Mr Antony Kiragu Karanja of Waithaka Ward.
Ms Chege previously served as Deputy Minority Leader and was behind the collection of signatures to remove Mr Kiragu.
Githurai MCA Deonysias Mwangi has been named Deputy Minority Leader and nominated member Joyce Muthoni is the Minority Whip, replacing Umoja One MCA Mark Ronaldo Mugambi. Clay City MCA Samora Mwaura is the new Deputy Minority Whip.
Mr Kiragu and Mr Mugambi are confidantes of Governor Johnson Sakaja and have been working closely together since the last election. The Speaker is expected to announce the changes in the next sitting in line with the Standing Orders.
In his statement, Mr Malala said that the party received minutes and resolution of its members following a meeting on Tuesday last week, where they expressed their dissatisfaction with their leaders.
“In the said meeting, it was resolved that the Minority Leader and the Minority Whip be removed for reasons contained in the referenced minutes,” Mr Malala said.
Mr Kiragu denied the accusations. He blamed his woes on rivals who were made uncomfortable by his ambition to contest for the Nairobi City County UDA chairmanship in the forthcoming grassroots elections.
The ousted leaders have demanded a meeting with Mr Malala, claiming that the faction that was named to take over from them was planning to impeach Mr Sakaja and had even collected fake signatures.
Addressing journalists at the party headquarters, Mr Kiragu and Mr Mugambi they had been approached several times by certain top officials of the party to draft a motion of no confidence against the governor.
“Senior government officials and senior members of the party have attempted to convince me to turn against the governor. I will not disclose their names for now but if they do not stop I’ll out them,” Mr Kiragu said.
After receiving complaints and a signed affidavit from the ousted leaders, Mr Malala called for a crisis meeting on Thursday at the party headquarters.
During the meeting that will be attended by all UDA ward reps, members will vote for their preferred House leaders in the presence of senior party officials.
Mr Malala stated that the party will be impartial in the matter even as he called for unity among the members.
“We are going to insist on an amicable solution to this conflict because we have the mechanism as a party to ensure that it is resolved and that will not be later than Thursday 10am,” Malala said.
According to Mr Malala, since the assembly is on recess until October 31 and since the Speaker is yet to communicate the changes, the status quo remains.
He warned MCAs that disciplinary action will be taken if it is found that they faked signatures in order to remove the governor.
During a church service last Sunday at Revival Sanctuary of Glory Church in Riruta Satellite in Dagoreti South attended by a number of leaders from Nairobi, Mr Kiragu asked President William Ruto to convene an urgent meeting with them to iron out some issues which are a threat to Mr Sakaja’s leadership.
However, Deputy Governor James Njoroge Muchiri asked the President to ignore such calls, adding that the county leadership was in a better position to handle such issues.
