The High Court in Mombasa has temporarily stopped the removal of Athman Rama Mwamiri as Leader of Majority in the Mombasa County Assembly.
In a ruling delivered on September 1st, Justice Jairus Ngaah certified Mwamiri’s application as urgent and issued interim orders restraining the Speaker of the County Assembly of Mombasa and other respondents from interfering with his functions.
“The respondents are hereby restrained from preventing, barring, restricting and/or interfering with the petitioner’s performance, discharge and/or execution of his duties as the Leader of Majority, Mombasa County Assembly, whatsoever and/or howsoever pending the hearing and determination of this application,” Justice Ngaah directed.
The court ordered that the main motion and petition be served within seven days, with responses also due within the same timeframe. The matter will be mentioned on September 17th for further directions.
The ruling comes against the backdrop of sharp divisions among ODM MCAs over Mwamiri’s leadership. On July 3, a majority of the party’s ward representatives voted to replace him with Ganjoni MCA Priscillah Mema Mumba, a move they said was backed by 24 out of 32 ODM members.
Also read:Mombasa ODM MCAs defy party HQ on Assembly leadership
Led by Old Town MCA Abdirahman Hussein, the MCAs argued that their decision complied with Standing Order 15, which empowers the majority party’s members in the Assembly to elect their leader. The Speaker announced the change in the House on August 5.
However, ODM’s Nairobi-based headquarters wrote to the Assembly on August 7, asking that the “status quo” be maintained as it reviewed the propriety of the leadership change. The directive sparked a backlash, with local MCAs dismissing it as “political interference” and vowing to resist external pressure.
“We shall not allow party headquarters to dictate County Assembly leadership against the will of the members,” the MCAs declared in a joint statement.
Also read:‘I refuse to be a puppet’: Mwamiri slams ouster as Mombasa Assembly Majority Leader
Mwamiri, who has rejected his ouster, accused a section of Assembly leadership of “weaponizing power” to silence independent voices. He maintains that he was never formally notified of the changes and that ODM itself had confirmed to him in writing that he should remain in office.
“I am being punished for one thing only: speaking my mind freely. For daring to have an independent thought. For refusing to be a puppet,” he said.
With the High Court’s intervention, Mwamiri retains his position as Majority Leader, at least for now, as the legal and political battles over ODM’s leadership in Mombasa continue.
