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Jubilee endorses new leadership line-up to tame ugly squabbles in Nairobi County Assembly


Jubilee Party top leadership has waded into the ongoing supremacy battles at the Nairobi County Assembly by endorsing a new party leadership line-up at the assembly.

This is after Jubilee Party Secretary General Raphael Tuju moved in to temporarily put in charge new leaders at the assembly to restore sanity at the assembly which has been in chaos since the return of ousted Speaker Beatrice Elachi last month.

On Monday, the rival ward representatives engaged in another round of ugly confrontations as those opposed to Majority Leader Abdi Guyo tried to forcefully eject him from office.

This came after the rival Jubilee Party MCAs had effected a change of leadership at the assembly installing new leaders.

In the new lineup endorsed by the ruling party, Dandora III MCA Charles Thuo will be the new Majority Leader deputised by Ziwani Kariokor MCA Millicent Mugadi.

The two will take over from Matopeni MCA Guyo and Riruta MCA James Kiriba respectively.

The other changes see nominated MCA June Ndegwa installed as Majority Chief Whip, taking over from South B MCA Waithera Chege. Ms Ndegwa will be deputised by California MCA Hassan Abdikadir Mohamed.

“In order to bring clarity on the issue of leadership in the house, we have decided to respect the list as brought to you by Ms Ndegwa.

“However, for avoidance of doubt, the leadership of the Party in the house for the moment is as follows…I believe this brings certainty in the house until further notice,” added Tuju on Tuesday.

The MCAs had on Monday called on the ruling party’s top leadership to call for a party caucus to find an amicable solution to the wrangles.

Tuju said the party did not wish to interfere with the affairs of the MCAs, unless it was absolutely necessary, but the move has been necessitated by the chaotic scenes that have been witnessed at the assembly for the past month.

In light of the violence and running battles, the party was compelled to act in accordance with Standing Order number 20 of the assembly, which requires the Party to designate majority leadership in the assembly.

This is in addition to receiving a letter from Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko endorsing the new leadership.

Sonko said, in the November 11 letter, the new team will help him deliver to Nairobi people but accused the former team of engaging in party squabbles instead of service delivery.

“It is expected that the Majority Leader should work in harmony with the head of government and especially when they come from the same party. In this decision, we have therefore also factored the letter of endorsement of the new line-up in the assembly by Governor Sonko,” said the SG.

Tuju instructed the party’s MCAs to respect the new leadership until another communication is made by the party but intimated that the ruling party will make another communication regarding the same matter in due course.

“However, since the party has an internal dispute resolution mechanism in our Constitution, we will be invoking that and we expect that the disputing parties will respect that process and may not take matters in their own hands,” he said.

At the same time, Speaker Elachi, who chairs the County Assembly Service Board, announced that Monica Muthama will be the new acting assembly Clerk in place of Jacob Ngwele, whom the Board sent on a month long compulsory leave last month and last week had his name revoked on the floor of the house.