Embattled Nairobi County Speaker, Beatrice Elachi, blew a fortune of taxpayers’ money to acquire an honorary degree in Dubai.
The degree’s authenticity is one of the reasons Elachi’s was impeached by MCAs accusing her of arrogance and extravagance.
City Hall spent Sh655, 000 for the degree bestowed on Elachi by Commonwealth University last December-after a three-day Leadership Summit at Arabian Courtyard Hotel in Dubai.
Her academic gown cost Sh10, 000 while the graduation dinner fee with a similar amount on her two guests accompanying her cost Sh20, 000.
The city MCAs felt the expenditure on the academic paper was waste of public resources. “The Speaker has no shame using taxpayers’ money to get a questionable degree,” says Ibrahim Abdi Guyo, majority leader, county assembly.
READ MORE
You have let us down, UDA tells Sakaja over rot at City Hall
Muslim lawyers want Speaker charged for 'forcefully' shaking hands with muslim woman
Nairobi residents' lobbies decry unplanned buildings in the city
Nairobi County's uphill task to net Sh20 billion in land rates
The Speaker is also accused of flying First Class during foreign trips instead of business class as stipulated in law.
Though comfortable, First Class is expensive. For instance, Sh1.5 million was paid for Elachi’s return ticket and those of her aides James Mwangi and Hawa Mohamed last March during their visit to America.
A travel agent in May cancelled tickets after Elachi insisted she must fly First Class. The tickets were for Elachi, James Mwangi and Bertha Shivachi.
“Please note we have cancelled the tickets issued today as I spoke to the Speaker Ms Elachi a while ago and she insisted that she will only take the direct flights to Dallas. As I explained the fares will change since the only seat available is the fares below in first class and economy class,” said the agent.
County assembly bosses describe Elachi as a woman with bloated ego arguing “she does not listen to us and thinks her decisions are final. We are not ready to work with such an individual,” stated Guyo.
Waithaka Ward MCA Anthony Kiragu, the mover of the impeachment motion against the Speaker before she rushed to obtain court orders for stay insists the ouster was to protect the integrity of the Assembly.
“The Speaker was abusing her office and as leaders, we are bound to offer checks and balances in our oversight role,” Kiragu told The Nairobian.
When Elachi travelled to American in May, she went for a knee treatment, incurring a hospital bill of about Sh1.3 million, which CIC Insurance declined to clear.
She had gone to Neuropathy Centers of America for amniotic allograph of both knees. An amniotic allograph is an option for treatment of joint/tendon pain for patients seeking alternatives to surgery.
But CIC Insurance declined to offset the bill on grounds that the claim was not an emergency as stipulated in clause 13 of the medical policy.
“We are in receipt of a reimbursement claim for Hon. Beatrice Elachi incurred during her trip to the USA during the month of May 2018 totalling to Ksh1, 310,198.83. After carefully reviewing the claims documents we regret to inform you that the claim is not payable as per the terms and conditions of Nairobi city-county medical insurance policy,” states David Obonyo, CIC senior operations manager.
The Speaker says the impeachment is illegal, accusing the MCAs of witch-hunt. She went to court stopping the impeachment. Bu the time of going to press, the court had not made a ruling on the stay orders.
Would you like to get published on Standard Media websites? You can now email us breaking news, story ideas, human interest articles or interesting videos on: standardonline@standardmedia.co.ke.
