Councilman Stokes requests Lumumba leave of absence after indictment. Here’s what happened

The room was silent as a mouse when Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes started speaking on why he believes Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba should take a leave of absence due to his alleged role in the city’s bribery scandal.

Stokes placed a resolution on the Jackson City Council’s Tuesday meeting agenda requesting Lumumba “take a leave of absence or sick leave” with pay.

Lumumba sat quietly two seats away as Stokes spoke, making his case for why the mayor needs to step aside after his indictment. Stokes said much of what he told the Clarion Ledger on Monday in an interview about his resolution. He thinks Lumumba stepping aside would help the city “heal” and “survive.” There is “a cloud over the City of Jackson” because of the mayor’s indictment, Stokes said.

“We’re not accusing anybody of anything. We’re not trying to sit as judge or jury, or lawyers or anything else,” Stokes said. “What we’re saying is the city of Jackson must survive. We should do everything we can to make sure the image of this city is not tarnished.”

In November, Lumumba, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks were all federally indicted, accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from out-of-state real estate developers who said they were interested in developing a downtown property into a convention center hotel, according to court documents.

Those “developers” turned out to be working with the FBI. Lumumba, Banks and Owens all ended up pleading not guilty to a combined total of 17 felony charges. A court date was scheduled for Jan. 6 but has since been continued.

Lumumba is specifically accused of ordering a city employee to move up a deadline for the convention center hotel that would’ve benefited the “developers.” In return, Lumumba allegedly accepted $50,000 in campaign donations. He allegedly did all of that while aboard a yacht in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with Owens and the undercover FBI agents posed as developers.

After Stokes, Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley also argued that Lumumba should step aside. Hartley said he met with “a group of elected officials from around this state” on Monday and apologized to them for “the example of leadership” in Jackson.

“This is not what we want,” Hartley said. “We want a strong Jackson. We want a strong capital city. We want to be a leader in the state. I think we cannot ignore the elephant in the room. I have citizens actually come to me and get in my face, ‘Why aren’t you guys policing your own folks,’ and this was months ago. They want some accountability, they want some responsibility.”

Continuing, Hartley said Lumumba’s indictment has hurt the image of Jackson, as well as people’s trust in the city.

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Lumumba’s chief of staff comes to his defense

It was while Hartley was talking that Safiye Omari, the mayor’s chief of staff, raised her hand to be called on to speak next. At first, it looked like Lumumba told her to leave it alone, but when Ward 7 Councilwoman and Council President Virgi Lindsay asked Omari if she wanted to speak, she grabbed a microphone.

“I’d like to respond to the statements that have been made,” Omari said, before taking a brief pause. “And I am trying to be civil, even though a lot of the statements that have been made both in this chamber and to the press have been uncivil,” she continued.

Omari defended Lumumba, pointing to the council’s own agenda they just completed as evidence that the city is still moving forward under Lumumba’s leadership.

“This city is continuing to do business as usual, and those people who are making innuendos and saying we are incapable of moving forward under the dark cloud, are on TV every Sunday bringing attention to everything they can that’s negative and never talking about what’s positive,” Omari said. “The hypocrisy of sitting there saying there’s a dark cloud that keeps us from moving forward. Even Stevie Wonder can see they’re playing politics.”

Omari’s statements visibly got to Stokes — he regularly conducts Sunday press conferences — who scooted up in his chair and requested Lindsay allow him respond. Lindsay asked Stokes not to let this “get really awful.”

In his response, Stokes said there have been street lights out on Bailey Avenue “for years,” as well as “trees on the street that haven’t been picked up for months.”

“And she’s talking about everything is good,” Stokes said referring to Omari.

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‘All seven of us need to come together’

Ward 2 Councilwoman Tina Clay, who was shaking her head in disagreement when Stokes first started to speak, was the last to speak.

“This city does have a dark cloud and will have a dark cloud with all the disparities that we have on this council,” Clay said. “All seven of us need to come together and think about what’s good for the city.”

Ultimately, Stokes’ resolution failed in 3-2 vote, with Lindsay abstaining. The vote failed because it did not receive a majority vote of all the members present. With six council members present, the resolution needed four votes to pass.

Stokes, Hartley and Ward 1 Councilman Ashby Foote, the block of the council who are highly critical of Lumumba, voted in favor. Clay and Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell voted against. Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks was not in attendance.

Lindsay, who decided to abstain from the vote, said she did so because she does “not feel like this even belongs on our agenda.”

“This is a matter for the courts and I have faith in our courts, and I believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty, as I have said plenty of times before,” Lindsay said.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Stokes’ resolution requesting Lumumba leave of absence went down