Nairobi Speaker Beatrice Elachi addresses the media in her office after the nomination of lawyer Miguna Miguna to the Deputy Governor post, May 17, 2018. /EZEKIEL AMING'A
Nairobi Speaker Beatrice Elachi addresses the media in her office after the nomination of lawyer Miguna Miguna to the Deputy Governor post, May 17, 2018. /File
 

By Correspondent

Embattled Nairobi assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi will now freely conduct House business after obtaining court orders.

Joy Furaha Mranja, a resident, had obtained orders stopping Elachi from presiding over assembly sittings. She also stopped her, the assembly, the Nairobi City County Service Board, the acting speaker and clerk from bringing goons, strangers or any other person who is not authorised by law to be in the assembly and who may interrupt its business.

But Elachi, in her counter-application, said her right to move freely and to discharge her constitutional functions as the speaker had been compromised and totally curtailed.

She claimed the consent order dated October 25, 2019, was obtained through the collusion of the advocates, yet she was never served. Elachi said the consent order was calculated at her oblique removal as the speaker through advocates masquerading as her legal representatives.

“No advocate-client relationship has ever subsisted between Elachi and the said Musyoki and Co. Advocates to permit Mogaka Advocate to enter into any consent in these or any other proceedings on behalf of the respondent,” court documents said.

On Thursday last week, the court issued orders barring Elachi from presiding over the sitting of the assembly or its committees until the application filed by Furaha is heard and determined.

Through her lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, Elachi said there were no consent orders, dismissing as untrue the claims that they agreed with the lawyer in the main application by Joy Furaha Mranja.

“Respondents will thus be visited with gross and odious injustice should this court not intervene as sought,” the application read.

She further claimed that the case should have been filed before the Labor and Employment court and not constitutional division which cannot clothe itself with jurisdiction over such a matter.

On Tuesday, there was drama at the County Assembly of Nairobi as rival city MCAs clashed over an impeachment motion of Speaker Elachi.

On Monday, a section of Jubilee MCAs launched the fresh bid to impeach Elachi and at least 67 ward reps signed the motion to remove the speaker who only returned to the assembly two weeks ago following her impeachment in September last year.

Elachi had earlier this month adjourned the assembly sittings. She said she took the decision to give time for normalcy to return and to allow members to find ways of sorting out existing differences.

Chaos marred the assembly on Tuesday shortly after MCAs supporting the new impeachment motion were disrupted by their counterparts while addressing the media.

At some point, stones and water bottles were hurled at a section of the Jubilee MCAs forcing them to cut short their press conference.