Scuffle ensues at City Hall over office space

Chaos erupted at City Hall on Tuesday after union officials tore down wall that was erected by County Assembly, barring workers from accessing offices ward representatives have laid claim to.

Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Alex Magelo says the offices were gazetted  March 13th and belong to the Assembly but the Executive have refused to surrender them.

“The IEBC gave clear directions on where the county assemblies in the country will do their business. County Assembly number 47, Nairobi County was allocated City Council chambers and offices to sit on March 22,  2013,” said Speaker Magelo

Magelo said the ward representatives have been forced to hold committee meetings at 680 Hotel dues to lack of office space.

“Right now the members of the County Assembly have been forced to conduct their committee meetings from lodgings of 680 Hotel. If I could ask the Executive, where do they want the county assembly members to sit and do their committee work?” posed Speaker Magelo.

The visibly agitated Speaker urged those questioning the gazettment of the Assembly offices to file a suit in court instead of sending goons to cause chaos that saw a sergeant at arms injured during the melee.

“There’s no supplementary budget. We won’t pass the supplementary budget until the Executive obeys the law,” fumed the County Assembly’s Majority Leader Elias Okumu.

On the other hand,  the Minority Leader Abdi Guyo said the Executive is just using the office wrangles to evade answering questions on the Sh5 billion that has not been accounted for.

Meanwhile, the impeachment motion against Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero failed to kick off due to lack of quorum after only two MCAs attended the session.