Sakaja survives impeachment after Raila intervention
Politics
By
Mike Kihaki
| Sep 02, 2025
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has been handed a lifeline after the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MCAs agreed to suspend the impeachment process against him.
The Orange party, which holds a majority of members in the City Assembly, held a closed-door meeting attended by ODM leader Raila Odinga, veteran politician Fred Gumo, and city legislators.
The meeting, chaired by Makadara MP George Aladwa, came after weeks of tension in Nairobi’s county assembly, where a section of MCAs had collected enough signatures to trigger Sakaja’s removal.
The legislators had accused the governor of failing to deliver on services, mismanaging resources, and sidelining elected leaders in decision-making.
Aladwa confirmed that the five-hour deliberation, held in Nairobi, gave all parties a chance to air their grievances.
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He said the governor defended himself and apologised to the MCAs, promising to address their concerns within a month.
“There has been a pending impeachment debate on the governor, and we have had a series of meetings.
In today’s meeting, attended by Raila and Fred Gumo and chaired by me, the meeting went on well. The MCAs raised their concerns and we deliberated on them,” Aladwa said.
He added that although the ward representatives had collected the threshold signatures to jump-start the process, dialogue prevailed.
“We have agreed that the mover of the motion suspend it so that the governor be given time to work. He has been advised to take responsibility and address the issues raised. I hail the party leader for cooling the tides and bringing together the MCAs who have expressed themselves openly,” Aladwa noted.
The Makadara MP stressed that no MCA was coerced into dropping the impeachment, describing the resolution as a product of collective reasoning. He urged leaders to focus on service delivery rather than political wrangles.
“No one has been coerced or forced to make a decision, but we all reasoned together. The governor defended himself and apologised, and we have agreed that for the next month, the concerns will be addressed,” he said.
The decision gives Sakaja a month to rectify the issues raised by the MCAs. It also highlights Raila’s continued influence in ODM’s Nairobi politics, where internal rifts had threatened to destabilise county leadership.