CITY HALL

Nominated councillor Mutunga Mutungi was seriously injured on Wednesday after a meeting called to postpone protests pressuring the Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa to resign was scuttled by rowdy goons.

Mr Mutungi was addressing the gathering when the group that had intermingled with the councillors began to cause chaos.

Bahati Ward councillor Benson Kangala suffered broken teeth, a split lip and an injury on his side before the police restored calm.

“Get out of here and not return otherwise you will see fire,” screamed one of the hecklers. “Remove your propaganda from this place.”

“You are not going to have any meeting here. Who do you think you are? This is not your council that you hold meetings any way you want,” shrieked another.

Fortunately, the police arrived on the scene in time and diffused the situation.

Speaking after the incident, Mr Kingala pointed an accusing finger at Mr Majiwa stating that the disruption aimed to intimidate those who were pro- reformists.

“For a full Nairobi Mayor to send goons to disrupt this meeting is a big shame. This blood I have poured is just a small percentage of that poured by other Kenyans,” he accused.

“I think God loves me very much. These people had guns, arrows and other weapons. They have attacked me breaking my teeth, stabbing me and stole from me,” he recounted. “We will not be deterred by this and we will make sure that our cause is realised.”

Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa however denied any knowledge of the incident.

“I do not now what is going on outside City Hall. I am in the office so I may need to know what is going on,” he said, speaking after a function at City Hall.

“We are not going to use the council to play party politics.”

Councillor Mutunga later told the media that the protest had been postponed until Tuesday next week after they were denied a permit by the police.

Mr Mutungi maintained that the besieged mayor needed to resign in a bid to ensure zero tolerance on corruption.

Huruma councillor Philip Abong’o however expressed support for Mr Majiwa saying that he was not involved in the saga.

“That is hot air. It is not going to take place anywhere. As far as I am concerned, nobody else can do it. If it is revolting against our mayor, then I would have been the first person to do so,” he stated.

“I am the most impeccable among the councillors here, and yes, I am principled and I stand firm,” he affirmed.

Mr Abong’o urged Majiwa to exercise caution when dealing with similar other transactions.

“Mr Majiwa should continue and be tough now. They are saying that he is an executive mayor, yet he is not operating as an executive mayor because we are pulling in two different directions,” he encouraged