A NUMBER of Jubilee politicians working with Senate leaders and senior government officials have hatched a plot to remove National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi.
Muturi is the third most senior official in the country and can constitutionally act as President in the absence of the President and his Deputy.
The Star has established that those behind the plot want President Uhuru Kenyatta’s advisor on Constitutional Affairs, Abdikadhir Mohammed, to take over as Speaker.
“There have been meetings by night and day to plan how to execute the wider plan. Some of us have been told about it, but we have rejected it and dared them to go ahead and try and remove Muturi,” said a senior TNA official.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is apparently aware of the meetings and the plan and has asked his confidants to deal with it.
“The President knows about this plot. I can tell you for sure that Muturi is going nowhere,” said a source in State House known to be close to the President.
Yesterday Abdikadir denied any knowledge of a plot to oust Muturi.
“I have no idea about those allegations,” he said, laughing, when contacted for comment. “Please find out from whoever is giving out this information.”
It is understood that the wider scheme is to discredit Muturi, then sponsor a no-confidence Motion.
“Those people are the ones who misled the President and his Deputy when the House resolved to have Cabinet Secretaries come before the House.
“They claimed that Muturi chaired a Cabinet meeting while the President was out of the country when the Speaker only met CSs in Parliament to brief them about MPs’ expectations,” said a senior official at State House.
Following protests by Cabinet ministers led by Information Secretary Fred Matiang’i, President Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto met Muturi and Majority Leader Adan Duale, among others, and requested that Parliament suspend the requirement for CSs to appear before the House.
Yesterday, the Leader of the Majority in the National Assembly warned those behind the plot to stop wasting their time because their efforts will “amount to nothing”.
“Muturi’s fate will be decided by 349 MPs and I can tell you on behalf of all of them, including Cord and the Government, that we have full confidence in our Speaker,” said Duale.
He also told Abdikadir and any other person apparently eying Muturi’s position that there is no vacancy.
“Those masquerading as leaders of the Senate and those who are looking for jobs should look elsewhere, because the position of Speaker of the National Assembly has a competent man – in Muturi – occupying it until his term ends. Advisors should remain advisors, because that is the best job they can do,” said Duale.
Deputy Minority Leader Jakayo Midiwo also told off those planning to remove Muturi, saying the move is uncalled-for.
“We are not, we will not be, party to that plan,” said Midiwo.
The schemers of the plot have roped in city lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi to help in the strategy.
The latest edition of his Nairobi Law Monthly magazine carries a cover story entitled “Unfit for Office”. The article calls for Muturi’s removal, accusing him of, among other things, incompetence and eroding Parliament’s prestige.
It is also further understood that those who want Muturi out are using the Speaker’s stand against certain Judiciary decisions to paint him as a difficult, unreasonable leader who has no respect for the courts.
Activists Okiya Omtatah and Wycliffe Gisebe have filed a case in court seeking Muturi and Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro’s removal on the grounds that they are both unsuitable to hold office for refusal to uphold the constitution.
They say that the Speakers disobeyed duly served court orders on two occasions. Muturi and Ethuro were also sued for allegedly not discharging their mandate to promote the rule of law and to protect the public interest.
– the-star.co.ke
