Law scholar Makau Mutua has explained why efforts to impeach Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja are unlikely to succeed.
In a statement on Wednesday, September 3, Mutua noted that the political situation at play makes such an attempt unrealistic and politically self-defeating for the ODM Party.
"If you understand politics, you should know it’s a head-scratcher to impeach Governor Sakaja. Given the matrix, such a gargantuan political blunder can’t happen, even in the citadel of the United States. It would be an own-goal by the ODM party in the midst of the silly season," he stated.
Notably, on Tuesday, September 2, ODM leader Raila Odinga met ODM-aligned MCAs at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation, where he persuaded them to suspend the impeachment motion.
At the same time, President William Ruto convened a meeting at State House, Nairobi, with UDA MCAs and urged them to back down from the push.
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Sakaja, who attended both sessions, pledged to enhance collaboration with MCAs and increase transparency in how development funds and bursaries are distributed.
"We have held a meeting with Azimio MCAs and agreed that the impeachment motion should be dropped so that Nairobi leaders can sit down and work together for the people of Nairobi.
"We have stated, as ODM leaders, that we have given Sakaja one month to sit down with the MCAs and agree on how they will work together," ODM Party Chairperson for Nairobi George Aladwa said after the meeting with ODM MCAs.
On Tuesday, August 26, more than 90 MCAs held an informal sitting, commonly referred to as a Speaker’s Kamkunji, where they agreed to begin the process of removing the governor from office.
The leaders said they had lost patience with what they described as poor communication from City Hall and a widening disconnect between the governor and the Assembly.
By Sunday, August 31, Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai revealed that close to 70 MCAs had already appended their signatures in support of the impeachment.
"We have collected 63 signatures. The threshold is 40 for impeachment. So we will table the motion on Tuesday. The meeting was held at Westlands. Over 30 MCAs have called, and they are with us," he said.
The MCAs accused Sakaja of neglecting projects at the grassroots, failing to release bursaries on time, and sidelining the Assembly in key decisions.
"That is why we have stalled projects, and the residents have been asking questions. The members also feel the governor is completely out of touch with the ground and MCAs.
"Three quarters of members who call the governor cannot get him, so there is an issue of communication between the Executive and the Assembly and his failure to come out on the issue of broad-based government," Deputy Minority Leader, Nairobi South MCA Waithera Chege, said.
