The long road to embattled Nairobi Speaker Elachi’s exit

When Beatrice Elachi was overwhelmingly voted in by ward reps as the second Speaker of Nairobi County Assembly in September 2017, it seemed like a match made in heaven.

Her election was a resounding vote of confidence by MCAs from across the political divide. She got 90 votes while her closest challenger Ali Abdi managed a paltry 27.

This was an overwhelming show of confidence considering that Ms Elachi was a Jubilee nominee in an assembly that had a strong opposition.

The former Senate majority whip, the first woman to hold such a powerful position in Parliament, had the MCAs’ backs.

Dalliance short-lived

However, the dalliance was short-lived as she quickly fell out with assembly Clerk Jacob Ngwele, stopped seeing eye-to-eye with Majority Leader Abdi Guyo as her good political terms with Governor Mike Sonko took the south turn.

This would culminate in her impeachment on September 6, 2018 when 103 MCAs unanimously voted to kick her out of office.

She was accused of abuse of office, sabotage of assembly operations and conflict of interest in regards to the purchase of the Speaker’s residence as well as violation of chapter six of the Constitution.

Months in the cold

Ms Elachi would spend 13 months in the cold before making a comeback last year in October, a return that was punctuated with chaos.

A short while after her return, she had fallen out once again with Sonko, who played a critical part in her comeback, suspended and eventually removed Mr Ngwele from office.

 Then came the roping in of NMS in the wrangles. The new supremacy battle at the county government would drag at the assembly, leading to another impeachment motion.

Nevertheless, Ms Elachi termed her time at the assembly as one that saw the House record tremendous changes despite challenges.