This archive report was first published on 24 December 2019.
On December 24, 2019, a plot to save Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko from impeachment was exposed, revealing a plan to send 18 MCAs on a superfluous tour of the United Arab Emirates at the taxpayers' expense.
The 18 MCAs, who were scheduled to fly out to Dubai for 11 days from December 19 to 29, 2019, were invited to attend an unspecified symposium, but sources close to the matter revealed that the trip was actually planned to scuttle the impeachment proceedings against Sonko.
As the impeachment process gained momentum, with Orange Democratic Movement MCAs giving County Speaker Beatrice Elachi a seven-day ultimatum to call a special sitting to discuss the woes bedevilling the county, the MCAs were sent on the Dubai trip to weaken the quorum and prevent the impeachment motion from being tabled.
However, the plan was exposed, and the trip was eventually stopped by Speaker Elachi, who confirmed that there had been plans for the trip, but it would have raised audit and moral queries and flown in the face of the objective of separation of powers between the two arms of the county government.
Minority Whip Peter Imwatok said his office was not notified of the travel plans, and that the law requires a minimum of four and a maximum of seven MCAs to travel outside the country at any given time, and that the Dubai trip would not have been allowed by the Ministry of Devolution and National Treasury.
