The Mombasa County Assembly building. [Photo/ barakafm.org]
Mombasa MCAs have defended the move by the county assembly to swear in Harub Ibrahim Khatri as speaker and Fadhili Mwalimu Makarani as his deputy after they were elected unopposed.Speaking in Mombasa on Thursday, Old Town MCA Murfad Abdallah Amour said claims by residents that some of the applicants were deliberately locked out of the speaker race were baseless.Murfad said other candidates who had declared interest in the seat failed to submit their applications before the September 4 deadline.“12 candidates applied for the job but only Harub Khatri submitted his application on time and that is why he was elected as speaker unopposed,” said Murfad.On his part, county assembly clerk Salim Juma said out of the four candidates who picked the forms for the deputy speaker position, only one submitted his application before the deadline.“Four of them picked the forms but only Fadhili Mwalimu Makarani who is the Portreitz MCA submitted his application and he was sworn in as deputy speaker unopposed,” said Juma.A section of activists in the county have criticised the move, arguing that the exercise was not done in accordance with the law.They said they suspect the county assembly clerk was coerced into swearing in the two.