{"id":132270,"date":"2026-02-26T13:02:48","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/senate-governors-standoff-escalates-as-kingi-calls-off-planned-meeting\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:02:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:02:48","slug":"senate-governors-standoff-escalates-as-kingi-calls-off-planned-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/senate-governors-standoff-escalates-as-kingi-calls-off-planned-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate\u2013Governors standoff escalates as Kingi calls off planned meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 26 \u2014 The Council of Governors (CoG) has convened an urgent meeting to deliberate its next course of action after Senate Speaker Amason Kingi called off a planned engagement between governors and Senate leadership, citing what he termed as contempt of Parliament by county chiefs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a letter dated February 25, 2026, addressed to CoG Chairperson Ahmed Abdullahi, Kingi said the meeting scheduled for Thursday had been deferred indefinitely after most governors failed to honour summonses to appear before the Senate\u2019s County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) and the County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee (CPIC).<\/p>\n

Kingi said the invitation for dialogue had been conditional upon governors complying with constitutional provisions requiring them to appear before Senate committees when invited or summoned.<\/p>\n

He accused governors of undermining the Senate\u2019s oversight mandate under Article 96 of the Constitution by failing to appear, despite Parliament\u2019s powers under Article 125 to summon witnesses.<\/p>\n

He warned that the absence of governors had disrupted consideration of Auditor-General reports, with the constitutional deadline of March 31, set under Article 229(4), fast approaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the circumstances, the condition stipulated in the earlier letter having remained unfulfilled, the meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 26, 2026, is hereby deferred until such time as the Governors shall appear before the respective Committees when invited or summoned,\u201d Kingi wrote.<\/p>\n

The development follows a resolution by governors to suspend appearances before the Senate Public Accounts Committee, accusing four unnamed senators of intimidation, harassment, political witch-hunts, and extortion.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a press briefing in Kilifi last month, Abdullahi said governors had resolved not to appear before the committee chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang until their concerns are addressed through structured dialogue with Senate leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Council of Governors notes with great concern the continuous and escalating extortion, political witch-hunt, harassment, intimidation and humiliation of governors by certain senators,\u201d Abdullahi said.<\/p>\n

He accused some senators of turning oversight hearings into hostile political forums, alleging that governors are deliberately kept waiting for hours, intimidated, and subjected to political pressure.<\/p>\n

Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki clarified that the standoff is not with the Senate as an institution but with what he described as the conduct of four specific senators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no issue with the Senate or its committees. Our problem is with four senators in CPAC. They know themselves. These four are involved in extortion, harassment and intimidation of governors,\u201d Njuki said.<\/p>\n

Governors also announced plans to scale back appearances before the County Public Investments Committee, citing excessive and repetitive summonses.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernors are required to appear several times to discuss one hospital, then another investment. This is not sustainable,\u201d Abdullahi said.<\/p>\n

He further raised concerns about procedural conduct during committee sittings, including the use of bloggers instead of official parliamentary communication channels and alleged intimidation of auditors.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times, auditors are so intimidated that they end up saying things that are contrary to what is contained in the Auditor-General\u2019s report. We cannot continue like this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Abdullahi warned that governors may seek judicial intervention to clarify the scope of Senate oversight powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIfwe must go back to court to interpret what oversight is and what appearances should entail, we are ready to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He insisted governors remain committed to accountability and respect for constitutional oversight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about avoiding oversight. It is about ensuring that oversight is conducted in a professional, respectful and constitutional manner,\u201d Abdullahi said.<\/p>\n

The Senate\u2019s County Public Accounts Committee is currently reviewing Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu\u2019s reports on county financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2025.<\/p>\n

The Committee is also examining County Revenue Fund reports across all 47 counties, with hearings scheduled between January 26 and March 16, 2026. Courts have directed the Senate to conclude its review by March 31.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 26 \u2014 The Council of Governors (CoG) has convened an urgent meeting to deliberate its next course of action after Senate Speaker Amason Kingi called off a planned engagement between governors and Senate leadership, citing what he termed as contempt of Parliament by county chiefs. In a letter dated February 25, 2026, […]<\/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-132270","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\/132270","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=132270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}