MPs threaten court action over party nominees

By MOSES NJAGIH

Nyeri County, Central: A storm is brewing in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA party over the new list of nominated members to the Nyeri County Assembly.

MPs from Nyeri are now calling on the party’s national executive to revoke the gazette notice nominating the 13 new members by tomorrow, failure to which they would move to court.

The now controversial list is to replace the earlier nominees to the county assembly whose nomination was revoked last month.

Yesterday, Kieni MP Kanini Kega, Mary Wambui (Othaya) and Esther Murugi of Nyeri Town threatened to move to court to have the list revoked if the party officials do not withdraw it. “If by Friday (today) they will not have acted, let them be prepared to face us in court on Monday,” said Kega.

The Kieni MP complained that some of those who have made the new list are not registered voters from the county while others were nominated through patronage as they are relatives of “big shots” within the Government.

Resign immediately

“When we enquired we were told that some people were nominated through the influence of powers from above. We want to know who are these powerful people calling the shots in the party,” he said.

He said after the revocation of the party’s initial nominees, MPs from the county held a meeting with the party officials and agreed on a new list, retaining majority of them. However, he claimed this was negated when the party drew the new list whose members were gazette on November 26.

“If our chairman Sakaja (Johnson), Secretary General Oloo (Onyango) and Joseph Maathai (Party’s Executive Director) are unable to ensure justice prevails in the nomination process, we will be asking them to immediately resign,” said Kega.

But in a quick rejoinder, Maathai said the party had done the best it could to balance the interests from the county, but added that they would listen to the complaints the MPs were raising and issue a comprehensive statement.

“There are many interests and we know the MPs are under pressure as well but unfortunately they cannot all be pleased,” said Maathai.

Ms Murugi had complained that the name of a disabled nominee, who deserved the slot, had been removed and her place given to a relative of a senior Government official.

She also said they contributed to the party’s win and they deserved to be heard.

Wambui also claimed that a slot for a youth representative in her Othaya constituency had been given to a “well connected” nominee.

“We fought for TNA in Nyeri amid hostilities since it was a GNU zone but we are disappointed at how the affairs of the party are being run,” said Wambui.