This archive report was first published on 11 November 2019.
On Monday, the Nairobi City County Assembly was once again thrown into chaos as ward representatives attempted to forcefully eject Majority Leader Abdi Guyo from office.
According to eyewitnesses, the chaos started in the morning at around 9am when the two camps of MCAs, one allied to Speaker Beatrice Elachi and the other to Mr Guyo, engaged in running battles as they shouted 'Guyo must go.'
Published on November 11, 2019, the situation was a result of a coup staged by county lawmakers allied to Elachi last week, who replaced Mr Guyo with Dandora III MCA Charles Thuo and Majority Whip and South B MCA Waithera Chege with nominated MCA June Ndegwa.
Each side blamed the other for the chaos, with Mr Guyo claiming that he was accosted at his office by a group of goons who tried to block him from accessing his office and in the process hurling teargas at him and also breaking the door to his office.
'I was coming to my office at around 9am when I met some youths who blocked me trying to make sure I do not access my office. They used teargas on us and I don’t know how they got the teargas canisters,' Guyo said.
Mr Guyo also urged those who wanted him out of office to follow the law, calling for a Jubilee caucus and letting Jubilee MCAs vote him out.
However, the other side, led by Mr Thuo, accused Guyo of using goons and other individuals to stop him from performing his duties as the new Majority Leader.
'He walked in with some goons and one of them even sprayed my eyes with pepper spray as I was discharging my duties as the Majority Leader even though members had overwhelmingly voted for me to take over the role,' said Mr Thuo.
