Ng'eno faces expulsion from Kanu over anti-First Family slur

Kanu Secretary General Nick Salat with National Organising Secretary Abdulrahman Bafadhil during a press at a party headquarters Nairobi regarding measures to be taken on errant party members, on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. [David Njaaga, Standard]

Kanu has ordered Emurua Dikirr MP Johanna Ng’eno to resign or be expelled from the party over his recent outburst directed at President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Kanu National Executive Committee members led by party Secretary General Nick Salat said the party cannot have as one of its members a person with uncivilised conduct like Ng’eno.

“The party finds Ng’eno’s membership untenable and therefore calls upon him to resign from the party in accordance with Section 14(1), (2) and (3A) of the Political Parties Act, 2011,” said Salat.

Salat said if the MP fails to resign, the party will have no choice but to expel him.

If Ng’eno fails to resign on his own initiative, the party will have no choice but to expel him by invoking provisions of Section 14(7) of the Political Parties Act,” he added.

Kanu condemned the MP’s remarks saying the MP not only showed disrespect to President Uhuru but also incited ethnic violence.

“Ng’eno is an MP on a KANU ticket, but his latest public conduct and outburst where he hurled insults at the person of the President Uhuru and even went ahead to incite inter-ethnic violence is reprehensible, unacceptable and cannot go unpunished,” the statement read in parts.

Salat said Kanu is a party of distinguished history and demands the highest level of discipline, loyalty and condor of its officials and members, adding that Ng’eno had crossed the red-line as far as the party’s standards of discipline are concerned.  

The party also accused the MP of insulting the memory of the Founding Father of the Republic of Kenya, the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. 

“It is regrettable that apart from hurling insults and disparaging the name of the President of the Republic, Hon. Ng’eno has also insulted the memory of the Founding Father of the Republic of Kenya, the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta,”

Kanu said Ng’eno as a state officer failed the in Chapter Six of the Constitution on the leadership and integrity and should not be a member of Kanu.

“The MP has fallen short of leadership and integrity provisions and he should, therefore, be stripped of the privilege to serve Kenyans as a state officer.”

To be charged

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji has given a go-ahead for the prosecution of Ng’eno over his remarks.

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, the DPP said there is sufficient evidence to initiate prosecution of the MP under the National Cohesion and Integration Act 2008.

The DPP indicated that in respect to the public interest, the MP will face criminal charges as his actions may open old wounds and incite different communities against each other.

Arrested

Ng’eno was on Monday evening arrested at Dikirr in Transmara moments after he was captured in a viral video slamming President Uhuru over his relationship with his deputy William Ruto.

A contingent of police officers from the nearby Dikirr Police Station and neighbouring police camp stormed his Mogondo residence at around 4pm and arrested him.