Reprieve for Machakos Speaker as court stops impeachment proceedings

The High Court in Machakos has stopped the scheduled proceedings of the impeachment of the Machakos County assembly Speaker, Anne Kiusya, pending the hearing and determination of cases filed by the Speaker and two other interested parties.

Justice Rhoda Ruto, who heard the simultaneous applications online, filed under a certificate of urgency, also issued prohibitory orders restraining any unlawful attempts to prevent Ms Kiusya from accessing her office.

The orders flew in the face of a spirited campaign by at least 30 members of the county assembly led by the leader of the majority, Nicholas Nzioka who have vowed to oust her on claims of incompetence and abuse of office.

Nzioka, who is also the MCA for Machakos Central had already drawn and filed a notice of Motion to debate the impeachment, a move that elicited a sharp division among MCAs, where about 22 others have vowed to shoot down the Motion.

But Tuesday’s developments in the corridors of justice appeared to apply emergency brakes on the MCAs quest to oust the Speaker even as the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) applied to be enjoined in the case as an interested party.

Among the prayers sought by one of the interested parties, Richard Mulwa, is a declaration that the ongoing threats and planned impeachment violate Article 27 of the Constitution as they amount to unfair discrimination against the Speaker.

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Also in the list of prayers was an order restraining the Machakos County Assembly from acting as an instrument of the executive in unconstitutional processes.

Lawyer James Kathili, acting for John Musembi, a local voter who also applied to be enjoined as an interested party urged the court to consider that the interested party had had substantial and direct interest in the subject and that the process affects the party’s legal, constitutional, administrative and economic rights.

The court agreed to have the applications formally filed and set the hearing for the same on April 30, 2025.

But even as that transpired, the MCAs supporting  Ms Kiusya’s impeachment vowed they would not relent in their determination to remove the Speaker from office.

Addressing the press at the county assembly premises on Tuesday afternoon, the highly charged Ward representatives alleged Ms Kiusya had been an obstacle to development within the county arising from her alleged incompetence.

“Last year, Sh250 million was returned to the exchequer due to the failure by the county assembly to absorb the cash in development projects. We feel this resulted from the incompetence of the Speaker and we cannot take it anymore,” said Nzioka.