Nakuru County assembly speaker Eng.Joel Maina Kairo has survived impeachment after 32 members of the county assembly voted against the motion to remove him from office.45 members of the county assembly voted for the motion hence no required threshold was reached.
The motion that was moved by Biashara Ward MCA Peter Njoroge Nyaguthii and seconded by Kihingo MCA George Kiere had cited 7 reasons for the impeachment which include abuse of office, illegal hiring, misuse of public funds.
The motion also claimed that the speaker had denied MCAs chance to travel abroad and benchmark on various projects.
However when the temporary speaker Tonui gave chance to speaker Kairu to defend himself as per standing orders, he said he had shown ethics in all the actions and his performance.
He distanced himself from the allegations raised against him through the motion and that the allegations were raised against him only to tarnish his name.
“If there is any person who has shown integrity is I Joel Maina Kairu and I will continue to do the same” he said.
The motion saw a heated debate among the MCAs in the house at one particular time the temporary speaker had difficulties in controlling the house.
However after several hours of debate on the motion with every member giving their views, there came time to vote.
The exercise that was over seen by the clerk of the assembly saw 32 members vote against the motion while 45 voted for the motion.
Due the motion not sailing through, the temporary speaker declared that Eng.Joel Maina Kairo will continue serving as the speaker of the county assembly of Nakuru.
“Order honorable members, those who voted for yes are 45 members while those who voted for no are 32 members and as per standing orders of this house, this clearly shows that the motion was defeated and so the speaker should continue serving as the speaker of Nakuru County assembly” said the temporary speaker.
Addressing media after the motion failed to sail through, Speaker Engineer Joel Maina Kairo commended the county assembly members, Senator Susan Kihika and MPs Samuel Arama (Nakuru west) and David Gikaria (Nakuru Town East) who stood with him during the hard times.He said the focus now will be to put things in order and serve the common citizen who elected them.
“I want to commend the county assembly members, Senator Susan Kihika and MPs Samuel Arama (Nakuru west) and David Gikaria (Nakuru Town East) who stood with me during the hard times. I want to say this is the time now to move and ensure things are in order in line with service to citizens” he said.
PHOTO/Pristone Mambili:Nakuru county assembly speaker Joel Maina Kairu addressing media in Nakuru after he survived impeachment.
