Nandi Senator Samson Kiprotich Cherargei has announced that the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) has issued a warrant of arrest against Migori Governor Ochilo Ayacko.
In a post shared on Facebook on Thursday, accompanied by photos from a CPAC sitting, Cherargei wrote:
“As the senate Public accounts committee we have issued warrant of ARREST against Migori Governor for failing to honour summons to appear before the senate to account to money allocated to migori county under his watch.”
He said the failure to honour the summons was in violation of Section 19(3) of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act and the Constitution of Kenya.
Cherargei, who is Vice-Chairperson of CPAC and a UDA senator, captioned the post “Oversight 101” and used the hashtag #mtetezi, before signing off with “Blessed afternoon.”
The committee, chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’, examines audited accounts of county governments and summons governors to respond to findings in Auditor-General reports on revenue, expenditure and use of public funds.
Under Article 125 of the Constitution, Parliament and its committees have powers to summon any person to provide information or evidence.
The Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act grants committees powers equivalent to those of the High Court, including ordering arrest for failure to honour a summons.
The announcement comes amid a long-running standoff between governors and CPAC.
The Council of Governors (CoG) had earlier resolved to boycott CPAC, accusing some members of extortion, intimidation, harassment and political witch-hunts, claims the senators have denied.
The Senate has previously warned that governors who fail to appear risk fines of up to Sh500,000, arrest, or both, with enforcement by Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja.
By the time of reporting, there was no independent confirmation that the warrant had been executed, and no response from Governor Ayacko.
Source
Leave a Reply