Maalimin MCA Mohamud Aden today withdrew his impeachment motion against county assembly speaker Ibrahim Abass.
On Tuesday last week, the MCA led his other 36 colleagues in signing a petition to impeach the speaker that was slated for Tuesday.
In a letter dated May 20, sent to clerk and signed by Aden, He expressed his intention to withdraw the impeachment motion.
“After consultation with all the stakeholders and pursuant of standing orders No 48 (1) of the Garissa County assembly, I have decided to voluntarily and unconditionally withdraw the said motion with immediate effect,” the letter read in part.
“Kindly acknowledge receipt of the same and mark the said motion as duly withdrawn for the record and the larger interest of the people of Garissa County,” it added. The MCAs had accused the speaker of gross violation of the Constitution.
In the petition, the MCAs further accused the speaker of running the house business in total disregard of rules and procedures.
Garissa Governor Ali Korane last week dismissed the plot to impeach the speaker “as an exercise in futility”.
Korane said the motion “has no basis but rather a scheme by a few politicians who want to disrupt the operations of the assembly”.
“So far there is no one who has told us what the speaker has done to warrant his removal. This motion will fail because we are going to garner the numbers,” Korane said.
Korane immediately took to his Facebook page to laud the MCAs decision to withdraw the impeachment motion.
“I thank the Garissa County Assembly MCAs for unanimously and unconditionally withdrawing the proposed impeachment motion against speaker Ibrahim Abass. They have indeed chosen unity and cohesion over division and conflict. I am proud of them,” read the post.
Speaking on phone, the assembly majority leader Mohamed Gabow who was among those supporting the motion said that they took the decision in the interest of the people of Garissa.
“In respect of the governors repeated appeal and other respected leaders and elders who pleaded with us to stop the impeachment, we had to respect their plea,” Gabow said.
Asked how they plan to address the concerns that were raised by the MCAs going forward, Gabow said that together with the minority leader Mohamed Ali they would form a committee to look into the issues that were raised by the members with a view of having them addressed.
By Jacob Songok
