A power struggle has rocked the Nyamira County Assembly following the impeachment of Speaker Enock Okero last month.

The battle for his succession has now seen the emergence of two factions, one supporting the acting Speaker Thadeus Nyabaro, and the other favouring acting Clerk Duke Onyari.

By yesterday, four Gazette Notices and three advertisements had been issued as the factions fought to have an upper hand in the race to succeed Okero.

Last week, Nyabaro and Onyari separately placed notices in local dailies, the first inviting applicants for the seat while the second one declared that there was no vacancy in the speaker’s office.
‘Office ban’

Okero also commissioned a Gazette Notice to denounce an earlier one authored by Onyari, which communicated his removal from office through the impeachment process.

Yesterday, Onyari commissioned another advertisement in a local daily notifying the general public that Okero was no longer the Speaker of the House as he had been removed from office by way of impeachment.

Onyari’s advert came a day after Okero wrote to him demanding that he steps aside for allegedly engaging in malpractice. Okero went ahead to declare one Michael Gisesa the Acting Clerk and banned Onyari from transacting any business on behalf of the County Assembly.

Supremacy battle
Immediately after Onyari’s ‘suspension letter’ went viral, Nyabaro also authored a letter asking Okero to surrender all public properties in his possession before leaving office.

Nyabaro on his part authored Gazette Notice number 14051, declaring intention to fill the seat of the Speaker later yesterday.

“Pursuant to standing orders, it is notified for the general public that there shall be a special sitting of the County Assembly to be held on Thursday, 31, October 2024 at the Chambers. The business to be transacted shall be election of a speaker,” the notice read in part.

The supremacy battle unfolded even as Okero insisted that the High Court sitting in Nyamira had given him stay orders and filed contempt of court proceedings against Nyabaro and Onyari.