This archive report was first published on 4 June 2020.
The leadership crisis at the Nairobi County Assembly has taken a turn for the worse, with neither faction willing to concede. The dispute, which centers on the leadership of the Jubilee Party at the assembly, is now set to be resolved by the party's top leadership.
Reinstated Majority Leader Abdi Guyo announced that the matter would be taken to the party's Secretariat for determination, after Speaker Beatrice Elachi failed to communicate the change of leadership during the assembly's sitting on Tuesday.
Elachi insisted that she would need to review a letter from Secretary General Raphael Tuju, dated May 28, 2020, before taking the next step. However, she maintained that the current leadership would remain in office until she was satisfied that the due process had been followed.
Elachi's ruling has been met with resistance from the new leadership, led by Guyo, who have vowed to take the matter to the party's leader, Uhuru Kenyatta, for a final determination.
"Jubilee party has to sit down with the party leader to deal with this matter. Before that, this House remains with the same leadership and I will write to Jubilee and we shall deal with that matter next week," Elachi ruled.
The dispute began in April 2020, when the Jubilee Party made changes to its leadership at the assembly, replacing an interim party leadership that had taken charge in November 2019.
However, the changes have been contested by the interim leadership, who claim that they were effected without proper consultation.
