Chaos
Chaos rocked the County Assembly of Murang’a on Tuesday afternoon after a section of MCAs stormed the office of the assembly clerk and that of the speaker. The MCAs resulted in destruction of furniture in the two offices protesting a court injunction on removal of two MCAs from the county assembly public service board.
They objected to the tabling the court order before the house saying their decision to impeach MCA Simon Wamwea and his Kimororo/Wempa counterpart Elizabeth Wambui was final.
The two MCAs who were impeached two weeks ago had obtained the court order stopping the county assembly from effecting their removal from the board. A number of MCAs were irked by the order prompting them to storm the office of the speaker and that of the assembly clerk destroying furniture and equipment worth thousands of shillings.
Muguru Ward MCA Moses Muchiri, alleged that, with the help of the Assembly’s speaker Johnson Mukuha and the clerk Kuria Thuita, the two MCAs have been misappropriating funds meant for the County Assembly.
“We had an agenda of impeaching Simon Wamwea and Elizabeth Wambui from the Murang’a County Assembly Public Service Board. The two have been stealing money designated for the County Assembly, with the help of the County Assembly speaker and the clerk,” alleged Muchiri.
The MCA further said they had elected Kigumo ward representative Caroline Njoroge and her Gaichanjiru counterpart John Munyua to replace the impeached MCAs in the board.
“We want John Munyua and Caroline Njoroge to be the new members of the County Assembly Public Service Board,” added Moses. Nominated MCA Sharleen Wambui Maina on her part asked the office of auditor general and officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to audit and investigate the swindling of funds that has been happening in the Murang’a County Assembly.
“Members have been taken for a ride. We have not been paid since December and have only been surviving with allowances. We are calling on the Auditor General and EACC to come and investigate the loot that has been happening here,” she stated.
Wambui further alleged that the speaker and the clerk have been protected by top leaders of the UDA party accusing them of poor management of the operations of the assembly.
“I am calling on the President and his deputy and the UDA Secretary General, Cleophas Malala to stop protecting the MCAs that we removed from the County Assembly Service Board.
“They have stolen millions, if not billions, of the money of the County Assembly of Murang’a,” she claimed.
The MCAs have vowed not to continue with another session until the impeachment of Wambui and Wamwea goes through. In a rejoinder the assembly clerk, Thuita dismissed the claims of the MCAs saying due process to impeach the two MCAs was not followed.
He said he had no authority to overturn a court order that was obtained by Wamwea and Wambui saying the MCAs could have exercised patience in the impeachment of the two. Thuita further distance himself from the delay of the MCAs salaries saying the delay is caused by late disbursement of funds by the treasury.
“The MCAs could have used alternative ways to air their grievances instead of destroying office equipment,” said the clerk.
On Wednesday morning, criminal investigation officers combed the assembly to investigate the chaos with the clerk saying those who will be found liable for the damages will face the law and pay for the destruction.