Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi may have to step in as the governor of Nairobi County.
This comes after the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji ordered the Governor of Nairobi County Mike Mbuvi alias Sonko be arrested on corruption allegations.
The constitution directs that in the event that the governor is out of office, then the deputy governor should act as the governor. But with the gap of Nairobi not having a deputy governor, the next person to take over the office is the speaker of the county assembly who is Beatrice Elachi at this point.
"If a vacancy occurs in the circumstances contemplated by clause (4), an election to the office of county governor shall be held within sixty days after the speaker assumes the office of county governor," Article 182 (5) reads as quoted by The Star.
Nairobi County does not have a deputy governor after Polycarp Igathe who was holding the office resigned. Sonko has since then not appointed a deputy governor even after saying he would opt for a female deputy.
"I shall only be ready to fill the Deputy Governor position once the legislation pending in Parliament on nomination and appointment of Deputy Governor has assented into law," Sonko noted.
The same situation has been witnessed in Kiambu county where Deputy Governor James Nyoro stepped in as the governor following a court order that barred Ferdinand Waititu from accessing the office of governor.