Shots fired in Machakos County Assembly over Speaker's removal

Police officers keep vigil at the Machakos County Assembly premises as violence broke up between MCAs. [Erastus Mulwa] The Machakos County Assembly has suspended all plenary and committee sittings scheduled to resume on Tuesday, following violent confrontations between two factions of MCAs over an attempt to impeach Speaker Anne Kiusya. Tensions flared on Monday as rival camps clashed at the Assembly premises, with members engaging in heated exchanges and physical scuffles. The chaos erupted over a push by a faction led by Machakos Central MCA Nicholas Nzioka to remove Speaker Kiusya from office. Opposing the move was another faction led by Mua MCA Francis Ngunga. Police officers from Machakos Police Station were called in to quell the unrest and prevent further escalation. The Assembly had just come out of a month-long recess, but the violence has now thrown its operations into disarray. Trouble started at around 10 am when the MCAs pushing for the Speaker's impeachment charged towards her office and ordered her to leave the assembly premises, claiming she was not authorized to transact any business pending the conclusion of her impeachment proceedings. However, another group of MCAs opposed to the Speaker's ouster confronted their counterparts from the majority side, resulting in violent physical encounters which left several MCAs nursing injuries. At one point, police were forced to fire shots in the air to disperse the warring factions as dozens of the county assembly staff scampered for safety. Last week, the High Court in Machakos issued orders stopping the debate of the Speaker's impeachment until April 30th, when the court shall hear submissions of interested parties. Those who were injured in the skirmishes included majority whip Raphael Nzau, who was rushed to the hospital bleeding profusely, majority leader Nicholas Nzioka, and Deputy Speaker Stephen Mwanthi, who got minor injuries. Following the scuffle, security personnel whisked the speaker to her adjacent office, where she was locked in and spent the entire day fearing for her safety. It emerged that faced with a court injunction, a section of MCAs seeking the removal of the speaker had prepared a fresh motion to have her impeached. Addressing the media at the assembly premises, Mua Ward MCA Francis Ngunga faulted the group of MCAs pushing for the Speaker's removal for deploying illegal mechanisms to eject the speaker from office. "The group feels that they have served the speaker with a fresh notice of impeachment and therefore she should not preside over impeachment from the assembly. The same members signing the same motion with the same grounds cannot be deemed as different from what the court threw out last week," said Ngunga. In her communication to the House, Speaker Kiusya said, "The plenary and the committee sittings of the Assembly stand suspended until a time when the safety of the Speaker, members and staff is assured."Ms Kiusya also froze local and international official travel for all members. By the time we went to the press, the speaker was still holed up in her office.

Shots fired in Machakos County Assembly over Speaker's removal

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Shots fired in Machakos County Assembly over Speaker's removal

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