Business at the Nyeri County Assembly has been paralysed following recent wrangles at The National Alliance Party (TNA) over who is the Assembly's majority leader.
Cracks have appeared in TNA and two factions of the party have emerged. One is led by Antony Kibuu, who was the original majority leader and the other by Jesse Kamuri who is alleged to have ousted Kibuu.
The two leaders both claim to be the bona fide majority leader and this has split the party right in the middle with each faction being wary of each other and not seeing eye to eye.
The Nyeri Assembly has 47 MCAs and TNA has the lion's share with 36 members followed by the Grand National Union (GNU) which has elected members while Saba Saba- Asili has one member.
Speaking to The Standard, Mathari/Kiganjo ward rep, Baragu Mutahi, said the party needs to crack the whip on errant members who refuse to toe the party line.
FAILED LEADERSHIP
"In fact, what we need is to whip and re-whip members who are disloyal if we are to maintain discipline in the party. Right now, the party appears disorganised and has failed to live up to people's expectations," he said.
Mutahi said GNU is the minority party yet it seems more organised and appears to drive its agenda better than TNA which has to contend with discord and divergent opinions being raised in any matter brought to the floor of the House.
"TNA has the numbers at the Assembly but it has failed to provide leadership in the House since MCAs appear to be reading from different scripts," he said.
On Wednesday, the Assembly had to postpone its morning and evening sessions due to lack of quorum as both Kimuri and Kibuu factions stayed away from the House.
The situation has not changed even after TNA Secretary General Onyango Oloo wrote to Assembly Speaker David Mugo reinstating Kibuu as majority leader.
Despite the directive, Kamuri continues to occupy the majority leader's seat and whenever one of the leaders is in the House, the other is conspicuously absent.
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
join