Speaker Elachi, 30 MCAs under siege as goons storm City Hall at night

Chaos erupted at City Hall in Nairobi Thursday morning after suspected hired goons attempted to attack County Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi and a section of MCAs in a clash over allocation of funds to the Nairobi Metropolitan Service.



Speaker Elachi and about 30 MCAs in support of the newly-formed NMS which took over control of the city, spent the night at City Hall ahead of the passing of the budget allocating KSh26.4 billion to NMS on Thursday afternoon.



However, a rival faction of MCAs led by Abdi Guyo opposed to the allocation of funds to NMS arrived at City Hall at around 4.00am  accompanied by armed goons sparking a confrontation with security officers.



Police were forced to lob teargas canisters and fire in the air to disperse the group, with some being arrested.



It is understood that some of the perpetrators of the dawn attack were arrested with firearms and crude weapons and have been detained at Central Police Station.



Ziwani MCA Milicent Mugadi said they were forced to spend the night at City Hall together with the Speaker and other legislators after receiving intelligence that they would be blocked from accessing the county assembly at 2.00pm to pass the budget.



“We decided to spend the night at city hall after receiving intelligence that we should not sleep in our houses,” said Mugadi.



Meanwhile, security has been intensified within the County Assembly where the Speaker and the MCAs have locked themselves.