Sakaja impeachment petition in limbo as MCAs claim threats by House leadership
Adjournment of the Assembly for the short recess has left the public and officials at City Hall guessing about the public petition on impeachment of the governor
By Adieri Mulaa
A public petition seeking the impeachment of Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja remains in limbo over a week after it was lodged in the Nairobi County Assembly.
Speaker Ken Ng’ondi is yet to introduce the petition in the House more than a week after the petitioner, Maxwell Ochar, a former county legislator, served the County Assembly on June 30, 2025.
On Thursday, July 3, 2025, the Assembly proceeded on a two-week recess, without having any direction from the Speaker, regarding the fate of the public petition.
Efforts by The Informer Media Group to get comments from Ng’ondi, Leader of Majority Jateso Peter Imwatok and Minority Leader Anthony Kiragu, has not born fruit.
Adjournment of the Assembly for the short recess has left the public and officials at City Hall guessing about the public petition on impeachment of the governor.
Accordingly, the Speaker would be expected to introduce the petition in the Assembly when the House resumes on July 15, 2025 or give direction in his discretion as head of the County Assembly.
Ochar, served in the First Assembly as the Member for Korogocho Ward. In the public petition, he cites alleged abuse of office and gross misconduct, in contravention of the constitution, among other grounds.
Impeccable sources revealed that a silent ‘pull and push game’ was playing out in the County Assembly, pitying MCAs against the House leadership over the crucial petition.
A few MCAs who did not wish to be quoted for fear of reprisals, claimed Members were being intimidated by the House leadership, not to pursue the matter, over threats of removal from committees.
They claimed the petition had created interests laced with quiet intimidation and veiled threats against Members who raised concerns about it.
Further, our investigations established that MCAs had raised informal concerns, whether the public petition on removal of Governor Sakaja by way of impeachment, should be processed by a committee or the County Assembly Plenary.
Multiple sources at the Assembly indicated that majority of MCAs want the petition considered by the plenary, before being presented for public participation at the Ward level, as provided by Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
They are skeptical that being a high voltage petition involving the governor, it should not be single handedly considered by a committee, for fear of likely interference or misrepresentation.
But reports we could not verify indicated the House leadership appeared to be inclined towards the public petition being investigated by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC).
The House will resume on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. The petition has raised anxiety among the rank and file Nairobi City County workers, much as it has, in the executive as well as the suppliers and contractors at City Hall.
Since the public petition was lodged, top officials in the executive at City Hall have remained tight lipped.
