Murang'a assembly to convene on Tuesday amid power sharing storm

Irungu Kangata

Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata. He is set to open the County Assembly on Tuesday.

Photo credit: Photo I File

Murang'a Governor Irungu Kang'ata has gazetted September 20 for the county assembly to convene its first sitting, amid cracks over the Speaker position and nominations to the House.

The 47 members of county assemblies (MCAs) will be sworn in that day and proceed to elect their Speaker and a deputy.

The county has 35 elected members – 28 under the United Democratic Alliance, four independents, two from Amani National Congress and one from the Party of National Unity. 

An aspirant for Speaker must win at least 24 MCAs to clinch the seat.

Dr Kang'ata said his administration called the assembly to sittings earlier than others because he had "inherited a mess” that needed to be addressed immediately.

"We have to pass a supplementary budget to help us finance our basic operations. We also need to pass several bills that we have already drawn [up] to help us launch our manifesto implementation," he said.

This came as some local political interested parties claimed that power plays in the county were being managed from the UDA head office, demanding that locals be free to share the positions.

Local UDA operatives who unsuccessfully contested various positions during party primaries now say they were convinced not to decamp but support the winners so they could be nominated as MCAs. 

A letter doing the rounds in the county states that the 12 nomination slots have been shared unfairly.

"Of the 12, they have picked 7 from Kiharu Sub County while other two are not from the County. One is from Mombasa and another from Nakuru counties. We want this issue addressed or else we rush to court to block their swearing in," reads their letter.

Former first lady Margaret Kenyatta's relative, Johnson Mukuha, an architect by profession and a close ally of President William Ruto, appeared to be favoured for the Speaker’s seat. 

He contested the Kangema parliamentary seat in party primaries but lost to Peter Kihungi, who went ahead to clinch it.

Others in the race to replace two-term Speaker Nduati Kariuki are former majority leader Erick Kimani, who ran for the Kigumo parliamentary seat as an independent candidate and emerged fourth.

Also in the race are Stephen Macharia, who sought the Mathioya parliamentary seat in UDA primaries but lost to Edwin Mugo, who proceeded to win it.

Newton Mwangi, a businessman who headed Governor Kang'ata’s campaign team, and Lawrence Munga, a youthful businessman who ran for the Maragua parliamentary seat but lost, have also expressed their interest in the seat.