Ol Kalou MP Erastus Mureithi has been summoned by a Nyahururu court for contempt after he was found guilty of disobeying the court’s order barring him from dismantling a community project committee.

Senior Resident Magistrate Alice Mong’are said the MP deliberately defied the orders blocking him from disbanding Ol Joro orok Chamuka Dispensary project committee for allegedly being supporters of his political rival.

The court ordered Mr. Mureithi to fund the project to completion or else risk being sent to jail for six months becoming the first legislator in the 10^th parliament to be held in contempt of court.

Mrs. Mong’are noted that the MP had been properly served but chose to change padlocks and also influenced fresh elections to impose a new team in the management of the community project.

Terming the MP’s actions as rude, disrespectful and demeaning the court’s authority, the court said Mr. Mureithi would have to bear the costs of the suit incurred or have his property attached for the same.

“The legislator is a lawmaker turned law breaker. He has presided over other courts having been a Commissioner of Co-operatives in the past and ought to appreciate the magnanimity of the case before court,” the magistrate noted while delivering her ruling.

The court also noted that the MP addressed several meetings in his constituency during which he belittled the court by saying he would disband the committee which he claimed had embezzled funds.

The applicants led by the committee chairman Mr Josephat Njoroge Ragi had moved to court where they obtained an order barring the MP from disbanding the committee or interfering with their operations.

The court issued an injunction against the MP or his agents on May 4 and the same was served on the MP outside his restaurant business by a process server Mr. Maina Muriu.

The court was told of how new team led by Ol Jororok chief moved to the premises and destroyed padlocks under instructions of Nyandarua West DC Paul Famba who proceeded to oversee new elections that saw a new team elected into office.

The court stated that Mr. Mureithi had brought the court into disrepute and that the only way to restore the court’s integrity was to punish him for defiance.

Earlier, Mr. Ndegwa Wahome for the applicants had raised issue with the MP’s absence saying he ought to have attended court but the court was informed that the MP was attending a Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference.

The court said the MP had lied over his activities by claiming to have flown out of the country when he was served only for a local newspaper, Home News Weekly to publish his weekend activities in which he vowed to replace the committee for alleged misappropriation of the funds.

The court read this as defiance adding that the MP was determined to replace the committee with his supporters and proceeded to cancel a Sh 150,000 he had issued.