Lamu, KENYA: Lamu West MP loser Abdu Kassim has been elected as the current speaker of the second Lamu county assembly house.
Kassim who is also the former leader of majority and former Hindi ward MCA was elected by majority of MCAs present in the house on Tuesday September 5.
Kassim vied for the Lamu west MP seat on a Jubilee party ticket but lost to Stanley Muthama of Maendeleo Chap Chap.
Out of the total 16 nominated and elected MCAs present during the exercise,12 voted for Kassim while his competitor and former Witu ward MCA Athman Amin got 4 votes.
In his acceptance speech,Kassim thanked the MCAs for trusting him to the post of speaker and pledged to execute his mandate fairly and without any influence.
Kassim who is also the chairperson of the defunct Municipal Council, pledged to play his oversight role of the house and ensure he at all times strive to cohesively and collectively steer to perfection the assembly as speaker, addressing and enacting laws and statutes beneficial to the people of Lamu.
“I am indeed humbled by both your trust and faith in me. My election to the coveted position of speaker in this house signifies the manifestation of such trust. I dedicate my total self to faithfully cooperate with you all in matters Lamu,” said Kassim.
He pledged to cooperate with the office of the governor and ensure the Assembly and the office of the governor together move as a team to bring about desired changes and reforms to Lamu.
A total of 16 MCAs out of the 18 elected and nominated were on Tuesday sworn in at the Lamu county assembly hall.
Bahari ward MCA Anthony Njomo wasn’t sworn in due to a court petition challenging his election.
Nominated MCA Amina Kale wasn’t present to take the oath of office as she is currently on a religious tour outside the country.
The elected MCAs who were sworn in included James Njuguna of Hongwe ward, Azhar Ali of Shella ward, Paul Kimani of Mkunumbi ward, Jonathan Mketta of Witu ward, Deko Barisa of Basuba,Abdalla Aboud of Kiunga ward, Yahya Shee of Mkomani ward, Fahad Dini of Faza and Anab Haji of Hindi Ward.
Nominated MCAs who took their oath of office included Fatuma Shebwana, MSeita Remoine, Jane Wanjiku Ndung’u, Zulekha Mohamed Mjahid,Halima Ali Tuna, Festus Kihuha Ndirangu and Salim Busaidy.
Majority of the nominations went to women.
Meanwhile, a section of Lamu residents have rejected nominations of three MCAs on grounds that they are from a different county and not Lamu as it should be under the devolved governance.
The residents say Seita Rimoine of PDU,Festus Kihuha Ndirangu of PDU and Jane Wanjiku Ndung’u of KANU who have been nominated as MCAs in Lamu are all from different counties.
They want the concerned political parties KANU and PDU to nullify the nominations and instead nominate residents of Lamu county to the posts as required.
The controversial nominees Seita Rimoine is said to be from Kabete county,Festus Kihuha Ndirangu is from Kajiado county while Jane Wanjiku is from Kiambu county.
Residents have threatened to hold protests and demonstrations rejecting the nominations which they termed dictatorial.
They also threatened to head to court to stop the three from being allowed to serve as MCAs in Lamu.
