The last nail in the coffin of impeachment for ousted Tharaka Nithi County Assembly Deputy Speaker Susan Ngugi was hammered when a new deputy was elected unopposed and sworn in office.
Vigorous efforts by Ngugi who is the Marimanti Ward Member of County Assembly (MCA) to fight her impeachment and retain her position reached a cul-de-sac when her Ciakariga ward counterpart Njagi Murandi took the oath of office.
The Ciakariga MCA was elected unopposed as the County Assembly Deputy Speaker after his sole challenger, Mariani Ward Rep Erastus Kinyua, stepped down in a house session held on Tuesday morning.
A bid by Ngugi to block swearing-in of the newly elected deputy speaker further hit a snag when the House unanimously agreed to proceed on recess until August 3 citing the growing Covid-19 infections as a hindrance to plenary business getting back to normal at the moment.
The aggressive Ms. Susan Ngugi whose impeachment took place on Feb 12, 2019 after she was accused of using unparliamentary language that disgraced the dignity of the assembly and violated house rights and privileges, challenged her ousting in the High Court.
MCA Ngugi had also been accused of leaking house business committee discussions to the public and the press and also walking out of the chambers on December 12, 2018.
Ms. Ngugi told the court that her colleagues in the County Assembly were undermining her ability to handle the position of the Deputy Speaker for being the first of her gender to hold the position.
But on June 30, 2020 the High Court in Chuka declined to wade into the impeachment controversy concerning the County Assembly.
While delivering judgement over a case where Ms. Susan Ngugi had petitioned against the County Assembly for impeaching her as the deputy speaker, Justice Robert Limo ruled that the Assembly has its own powers to handle their house business.
Justice Limo further ruled that the court was not mandated to intervene on matters that were not constitutional hence it had no power to proceed with the case leaving it to the Assembly to handle its affairs.
