Baringo, Kenya: Baringo County Assembly Speaker William Kassait Kamket woke up to a rude shock Wednesday morning after he found his office locked by a section of members of the county assembly who are pressurizing him to step aside pending his court case.
The speaker told The Standard that his office has been locked by the MCAs, who want him out of the assembly without following right procedures.
"They have locked my office and I am moving to court to have this matter determined," Kamket said.
Kamket said that he will sue the suspected assembly members and seek to restrain the MCAs from interfering with him in the discharge of duties.
"The Standing Orders does not provide a clause to compel a speaker to step aside. Those against me being in office should have moved to court instead of attempting an illegality,” said Kamket.
Drama began Tuesday evening after a section of MCAs attempted to bar the speaker from discharging his duties alleging that they had suspended him because he has a pending case in court.
However, the Assembly's Standing Orders does not provide for the suspension of the Speaker.
Article 61 of the County Assembly Standing Orders states that the speaker may be removed from office by the House through a resolution supported by not less than 75 per cent of all MCAs.
The MCAs must file a notice of the intention to move a motion for a resolution to remove the Speaker by writing to the Clerk and signed by at least one third of all MCAs stating grounds for removal thereafter a motion for a resolution to remove the Speaker shall be presided over by an MCA elected to act as Speaker.
"Before the debate and voting on a motion, the Speaker shall be accorded an opportunity to respond to the allegations on the Floor of the House," reads the Standing Orders.
Kamket said the MCAs flouted the Standing orders.
"It is very clear how a Speaker can be removed. They just need to follow the law if they are honest in their quest to remove me. But this is all politics," said Kamket.
During the attempt to remove the Speaker, two factions of the county assembly members engaged in physical fight as supporters of the ouster attempted to install Kamket's deputy, Douglas Kiplimo.
The MCAs allegedly led by Joseph Makilap (Barwessa), Reuben Chepsongol (Bartabwa), Peter Amasile (Tangulbei) and Deputy Minority leader Thomas Minito (Churo /Amaya) were fronting for Kiplimo to act as Speaker after declaring Kamket 'suspended'.
In their argument, according to the source within the assembly, the anti-Kamket group claimed that the Speaker's integrity was questionable and that he must step aside pending determination of his case.
The shouting that followed degenerated into fist fights between the opposing MCAs where some of them sustained minor injuries.
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The commotion within the assembly attracted huge crowd from the members of the public within Kabarnet town who thronged the assembly forcing police to move in and lobby teargas canisters to disperse them.
Those who were in support of the speaker are said to have resisted the move to replace him, saying that he was innocent until otherwise proven guilty by the court.
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