Nairobi speaker Beatrice Elachi has been impeached.
Some 103 MCAs voted to remove her from office, two voted against while two others abstained.
The MCAs removed her for causing ‘great embarrassment’ to the county assembly.
In a motion by Waithaka MCA Antony Kiragu on Thursday, the MCAs accused Elachi of gross misconduct.
Kiragu talked when they held a special sitting to discuss Governor Mike Sonko’s conduct and the speaker’s impeachment.
“Her actions and omissions have caused embarrassment and brought the office of the speaker into disrepute, this assembly resolves to sanction,” he said.
The MCAs wanted Elachi removed on the following grounds;
Conflict of interest.
In the controversial purchase of the residence of the holder of the office of the speaker, she is accused of actively interfering, threatening, bullying and intimidating staff to have a party.
This was despite having failed the mandatory criteria for the award of the tender and having quoted Sh125 million when the recommended price was Sh100 million.
She is also accused of creating a markup of Sh25 million above what the market report recommended, evidence of which, they say is available from procurement records audio recordings.
Undermining the Authority of the County Assembly Board
The MCAs said Elachi’s actions and omissions by undertaking the functions of the Board and inviting investigators to probe the conduct of officers of the county assembly was illegal and disrespectable to the board.
This, they said is despite her not having been in a board meeting to address the said matters and give express authorisation for such action as contemplated by law as the Board.
Abuse of Office/Gross misconduct
The motion notes that Elachi inappropriately spent public funds on a visit to Dubai, to ostensibly receive a “fake Honorary Doctorate Degree” from the “London Graduate School”
She is also accused of making payments worth Sh550,000 of taxpayers monies, as part of a suspicious “Dubai Leadership Summit”.
“She procured payment by intimidation, improperly and unprocedurally to have the public fund her deceptive personal travels, evidence of which is readily available online,” the MCA’s said in a statement before the impeachment.
Elachi is also accused of inappropriately spending public funds on dubious trips to Dallas and Texas in the US.
The MCAs claim she went for a Diaspora Women Network conference when in the actual sense she was travelling for plastic surgery and knee surgery, as evidenced by an insurance claim from CIC Insurance totalling Sh1,000,000.
Failure to show leadership
She is accused of interfering with the legitimate results of the Women Caucus elections where she unilaterally cancelled the results of a legitimate vote and ordered a fresh election, clearly abusing her office.
Repeatedly commencing Assembly proceedings without the requisite Quorum, and proceeding with assembly sittings where the question of quorum has been raised, and acceded to, contrary to the Standing Orders;
Earlier, Elachi claimed MCAs were pressured to sign a petition for her impeachment. She alleges representatives were threatened that they would miss trips, be de-whipped or removed from committees.