Senate leadership on Tuesday criticized governors who are threatening to boycott Senate summons, insisting that appearances before the Upper House and its committees are mandatory and cannot be negotiated or used as leverage.<\/p>\n
Speaking during plenary, Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot dismissed claims made by the Council of Governors (CoG) that some senators were using committee summons to extort county officials. He argued that such allegations do not justify failing to appear when public funds are under scrutiny.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernors\u2019 appearances before the Senate is a constitutional dictate. It\u2019s not a previledge to be waived at will, particularly when there are serious accountability matters at stake across the country. We can discuss any matter as a going concern, never as a threat to non-appearance,\u201d Cheruiyot stated.<\/p>\n
Cheruiyot asserted that oversight by the Senate is a constitutional obligation and cautioned governors against framing accountability processes as optional. He maintained that the Senate has the authority to summon any public officer involved in the management of public resources at any time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a constitutional duty to summon any public servant \u2013 anybody who interacts with public funds. We can summon them to this house at any time, any period, day or night, in the pursuit of justice for the people of this republic,\u201d the Majority Leader said.<\/p>\n
He criticized what he termed political grandstanding by governors, accusing some of addressing the Senate from outside Parliament rather than following established procedures.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have a specific complaint about any individual or a Senate committee, there are established procedures to address that. We cannot be addressed from hotels in Mombasa by individuals claiming to be excellencies when their conduct is anything but excellent,\u201d he charged.<\/p>\n
Cheruiyot further challenged governors alleging extortion to submit themselves to scrutiny, arguing that confidence in their innocence should lead to cooperation with oversight institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf, as a Governor, you know that you have done nothing wrong, why are you allowing yourself to be extorted? If you are confident in your innocence, and you are clean, then simply appear in the House and answer the questions.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Senate Minority Leader Steward Madzayo supported Cheruiyot, rejecting allegations that Senate committees were compromised. He stated that the House has confidence in its committees and their leadership.<\/p>\n
Madzayo described the claims of senators soliciting bribes from governors as serious accusations that must be substantiated through proper legal channels.<\/p>\n
He also hit out at governors for attempting to dictate how the Senate conducts its internal affairs, including committee composition.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernors cannot decide which senators serve on committees or who has the authority to summon them. That conduct undermines the Constitution and the separation of powers,\u201d Madzayo remarked.<\/p>\n
Senate Speaker Amason Kingi reinforced the leadership\u2019s stance, urging governors to use formal dispute resolution mechanisms instead of threatening to boycott committee proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cShould the Council of Governors have concerns regarding the conduct or operations of Senate Committees, established and legitimate institutional channels exist through which such concerns may be formally raised and addressed,\u201d Kingi stated.<\/p>\n
The Speaker underscored the Senate\u2019s commitment to its constitutional oversight role, asserting that the House would not waver in ensuring accountability regarding the use of county allocations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Senate remains committed to fulfilling its constitutional mandate and ensuring that oversight over public funds allocated to county governments remains robust, objective and timely,\u201d he affirmed.<\/p>\n
Senate committee leadership has vowed to continue with scheduled hearings involving governors, warning that failure to honor summons could lead to consequences.<\/p>\n
The post No one above scrutiny, Senate leadership warns governors<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Senate leadership on Tuesday criticized governors who are threatening to boycott Senate summons, insisting that appearances before the Upper House and its committees are mandatory and cannot be negotiated or used as leverage. Speaking during plenary, Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot dismissed claims made by the Council of Governors (CoG) that some senators were using […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}