The Murang’a County Assembly has suspended a member for four months over a WhatsApp message.
Kanyenyaini Ward Rep Grace ‘City’ Nduta was accused of breaching her privileges and was suspended following the adoption of a report by the assembly’s Powers and Privileges Committee, which recommended that she be stripped of her privileges for allegedly making some demeaning remarks on a social media group a few weeks ago.
The ruling by the committee, which was investigating the MCA over remarks she allegedly made on WhatsApp group Murang’a County Politics (MCP), condemned her colleagues for what she described as their failure to monitor the county government.
In addition to being banned from attending all assembly sessions, Ms Nduta has also been suspended as a member of the Speaker’s Panel, House Business and Rules and Selection committees.
The committee, chaired by Speaker Johnson Mukuha, presented its recommendation to the assembly for debate and the majority supported the proposed disciplinary action.
About three weeks ago, Ms Nduta posted a message on the WhatsApp group during a heated debate on the health sector after a prominent lawyer died due to alleged lack of oxygen and an ambulance to take him to another hospital.
During the engagement, Ms Nduta claimed that the health sector in the county was on its death bed and accused her colleagues of failing to push the executive to provide quality health care to residents.
The remark did not go down well with her colleagues who said the MCA was out to humiliate them in the eyes of the public. They demanded that she be summoned for disciplinary action.
The assembly’s majority leader, Mr Francis Kibe, said Ms Nduta had been given a chance to apologise and retract her remarks, but she had refused.
He said the MCA suffered because she made the allegations when millions of shillings had been allocated in the supplementary budget for the rehabilitation of ECDE centres, health centres and other community projects,’ said Mr Kibe, the Ithiru MCA.
Mr Kibe said the ward representative was to blame for her woes, adding that her sentiments were uncalled for and she should have used another channel to raise her concerns instead of posting them on social media.
He further said the county had allocated funds for projects prioritised in each of the 35 wards as a result of input from the MCAs, saying Ms Nduta’s sentiments were demeaning to the entire House.
At the same time, Nginda MCA John Mwangi was given a reprieve following his apology and medical history.
Mr Mwangi had earlier been questioned by the same committee after he alleged that members of the assembly’s Water committee were criminals. He said this during the heated debate on the boundaries of the Murang’a Water and Sanitation Company (Muwasco) and Murang’a South Water and Sanitation Company (Muswasco) in the provision of services in Maragua.
According to the report tabled in the assembly, Mr Mwangi appeared subdued, sickly and remorseful when he appeared before the committee.
