Embattled Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi has resigned. Ms Elachi tendered her resignation early Tuesday morning to President Uhuru Kenyatta and former prime minister Raila Odinga. Speaker Elachi cited a plethora of grievances that facilitated her resignation including Governor Mike Sonko’s threats to her family as well as “lots of conflicts”.
“I want to tender my resignation to the President of Kenya…It has given me great pleasure to serve as the Nairobi County Assembly Speaker. With the coming of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, I believe Nairobi will be transformed. I humbly tender my resignation…” said Elachi.
“It gives me great pleasure to have served as the speaker of Nairobi County Assembly from September 2017 when we finished the election to date,” Ms Elachi continued reading from her letter to the President.
After Ms Elachi’s exit, Nairobi County deputy speaker and also Ruai MCA John Kamangu will take over as interim county speaker until a permanent speaker is elected.
Ms.Elachi said her family, particularly children have suffered a lot as a result of her wrangles with Nairobi governor Mike Sonko.
Beatrice Elachi: Career Profile
Before joining politics, Beatrice Elachi was a Programs Officer for the United Nations Programs for Women where she trained women parliamentarians. She stayed in this job for 7 years before crossing over into politics in 2010 after accepting the Secretary General role at the Alliance Party of Kenya.
Following Partly Leader Kiraitu Murungi’s recommendations, the Alliance Party of Kenya nominated Beatrice Elachi to the Senate in 2013. She quickly rose to the Majority Chief Whip in the Upper Chamber hence becoming the first female to perform in that capacity in Kenya’s history.
In April 2017, Ms Elachi won the Dagoretti North Constituency primary elections under the Jubilee Party banner. However, her victory was short lived as she lost her seat to Paul Simba Arati four months later in August 2017 elections.
In September 6th, 2017, Ms Elachi was nominated and then elected Nairobi County Assembly Speaker. She will hold her title for a full calendar year until her impeachment on September 6th, 2018.
Reasons for her impeachment included accusations of a conflict of interest, undermining the authority of the County Assembly Board, abuse of office, gross misconduct and a failure to show leadership.
A fortnight ago, Ms Elachi accused Mike Sonko of causing the chaos engulfing Nairobi City Hall. She criticized Sonko for transferring most of the roles performed by county MCAs to the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS). In her opinion, Nairobi governor Mike Sonko has fueled confusion and bitterness in City Hall for failing to resolve his differences with the NMS.
Elachi also alleged that Sonko had been hiring goons to disrupt the operations of the city while simultaneously using MCAs to stall Nairobi operations.
