Complete mayhem broke out on Wednesday at the Meru County Assembly after MCAs walked out on the County governor Kawira Mwangaza during what was supposed to be her inaugural address before the members.
Police were compelled to lob teargas canisters to disperse the rowdy MCAs who were throwing stones at each other after the governor supposedly entered the assembly against House procedure. As MCAs and the Sergeant at Arms battled to prevent the governor’s cronies from making their way into the assembly, chaos broke out. The MCAs left the chamber in protest as soon as the governor appeared.
Addressing the press after calm was restored, Meru County Assembly Speaker Ayub Bundi accused governor Mwangaza of disregarding the procedure required before entering the house. “The governor should have paid a courtesy call to the Clerk and the Speaker before addressing the assembly. The procedure requires that we walk in accompanied by the mace. However, we were shocked to see her storming in,” Mr Bundi said.
Later on, the House reconvened, but as the governor took the dais, all MCAs again left in protest, leaving the Speaker and three clerks alone forcing the speaker to subsequently adjourn the sitting due to lack of quorum. Meru County governor who was elected as an Independent has however reiterated that she will not be subdued by the MCAs.
“I have done my part to come to the Assembly but they walked out on me. I will not be cowed by MCAs who want underhand deals instead of working for the electorate. I’m out to fight cartels that continue to pilfer county resources,” she said.
