The woes facing the Garissa county assembly speaker Abdi Idle could be far from over after MCAs mooted a plan to impeach him.
Speaking to the Star on the phone, Abakaile MCA Hajir Dahiye said that they were meeting in Nairobi to fine-tune the petition before delivering it to the Assembly clerk Mohamed Santur.
“We have already prepared the petition and we are going to deliver it to the clerk in the course of this week. I can assure you that it has a lot of support from members from across the political divide as well as clans,” he said.
“All we need is 16 signatures to table the motion and we have already exceeded that number."
Speaking on the phone, the assembly clerk said that he was yet to receive the petition but was quick to add that he would act in accordance with the law once he gets it.
“There is nothing much really to say or do as of now. But once the honourable members officially communicate with my office then everything else will take its course in accordance with our standing orders,” he said.
The Speaker's troubles started on September 13 when he announced changes in the assembly replacing Majority Leader Abubakar Khalif (ODM) with Mohamed Farah (Wiper).
In a tension-packed house that was characterised by chaos, the speaker further said Ahmed Abdirahman had replaced Abdi Ibrahim as majority whip while Mahat Abdikadir had replaced Omar Abdi as county assembly service board member.
Sankuri MCA Abdirahman Borr was also replaced by Abdirahman Muktar as the deputy majority leader in the changes.
The MCAs further accused him of ignoring both the high court and political parties' dispute tribunal orders restraining him from effecting the leadership changes.
Last week, the high court in Garissa ordered that the contempt of court application be served to the speaker and the other parties within three days when the matter comes up for mention on September 29.
Justice John Onyiego also directed the respondents to file their responses within seven days together with submissions.
Clan politics played a big part in the election of Speaker Idle who was overwhelmingly voted for by the MCAs.
Idle, a teacher by profession and who comes from the Samawadhal community which hails in the southern part of Garissa in the Ijara subcounty is a teacher by profession. He briefly served in former governor Ali Korane’s administration.
Unlike in other counties where party leaders have a say on who becomes the speaker, in pastoralist counties it is more of clan balancing to ensure all feel represented.
The county is inhabited by three major clans, namely, the Awlihan, Audhaq and the Samawadhal.
The Awlihan entered into a pre-election coalition with the Samawadhal that saw the Aulyahan produce Governor Nathif Jama, while the Samawadhal produced Deputy Governor Abdi Dagane and Senator Abdul Haji.