Senate Plans to Freeze Funds for Governors who skip Audit Hearings

The Senate now wants to freeze funds for county governments whose Governors fail to appear before its committees to respond to audit queries raised by the Auditor General. In the proposed motion it says failure by Governors to honour summons exposes taxpayers’ money to continued plunder and weakens oversight of public funds. The Senate is now targeting Governors who have been snubbing invitations to appear before the County Public Accounts Committee to respond to issues raised in audit reports regarding their counties’ financial management. The committee, chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang, has reportedly faced repeated cases where Governors fail to attend sessions meant to scrutinise the use of public funds. According to the proposed motion, the Senate plans to compel the Office of the Controller of Budget to exercise powers under Article 228(5) of the Constitution and the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act to withhold approval of withdrawals from a county revenue fund where a Governor has failed or declined to appear before a Senate committee. The Senate says the Controller of Budget will rely on a letter from the Clerk of the Senate communicating a committee resolution as sufficient evidence that a county Governor or accounting officer has failed to appear before the committee, or that they have subsequently complied with the summons. Senators argue that some county bosses have repeatedly failed to honour invitations and summons issued by the County Public Accounts Committee, thereby contravening their constitutional and statutory duty to account for funds allocated to their respective county governments. According to the Senate, failure by Governors and relevant accounting officers to appear before its committees undermines the chamber’s constitutional oversight mandate and weakens accountability in the management of public resources. Parliament further warns that continued disregard of Senate invitations and summons sets a precedent that erodes the principles of transparency, accountability and respect for constitutional institutions. Governors, however, have pushed back against the committee’s actions, accusing some senators of turning the hearings into platforms for extortion and political score-settling when county chiefs appear before them.