Kabogo snubs Senators again over county audit

Kiambu Governor William Kabogo (centre) speaks at the Governors' Summit 2014 at Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha on January 20, 2014. Mr Kabogo risks being summoned by a Senate committee after he failed to appear before the senators on July 2, 2014, to answer questions on the use of county finances. PHOTO | FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Committee vice-chairman Hassan Omar criticised the governor for not following the example set by other county bosses who had appeared before it
• Busia Senator Amos Wako said a court ruling had cleared the way for the lawmakers to summon governors.

By JEREMIAH KIPLANG'AT
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Kiambu Governor William Kabogo risks being summoned by a Senate committee after he failed to appear before the senators on Wednesday to answer questions on the use of county finances.

 

Mr Kabogo snubbed, for the second time, an invitation by the County Public Accounts and Investment Committee to respond to queries raised by the Auditor-General in a report covering use of Kiambu County finances in the last financial year.

The committee, chaired by Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale, asked the governor to present himself before it to provide answers to the audit queries, but he instead sent county executive committee members to represent him.

REFUSED TO LISTEN

The senators refused to listen to the executive members, saying the only accounting official they could take a word from was the governor.

Committee vice-chairman Hassan Omar criticised the governor, saying Mr Kabogo should follow the example set by other county bosses who had appeared before it.

“We do not want to engage in ping-pong or any confrontation. We asked the governor to come and he should do so. We find no particular substance in the reasons he has given for not doing so,” said Mr Omar.

Senators said they had a constitutional backing on the invitations for governors to appear before them.

Busia Senator Amos Wako said a court ruling had cleared the way for the lawmakers to summon governors.

CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY

“We want to perform our constitutional duty without challenges. On this issue of appearing before us, the court ruled in favour of senators. The chairman of the Council of Governors has been appearing before us and so we expect others to do so too,” said Mr Wako.

Kiambu County's executive in charge of finance, Mary Nguli, defended the governor, saying he was ready to tackle outstanding issues arising from Wednesday’s meet.

“We are willing to be held accountable. We are ready to address the queries and allow the governor to address outstanding issues,” said Ms Nguli.

Mr Omar, chairing the meeting, dismissed the executive’s explanation, saying it was wrong for the governor to twice skip invitation.

Mr Kabogo was required to respond to questions on how the billions of shillings given to the populous county had been used and why there were audit queries in the report by the auditor.

RUTO HONOURED INVITATION

The chairman of the Council of Governors, Isaac Ruto, appeared on Tuesday and was praised by the committee for honouring the invitation although he earlier refused to do so.

Mr Ruto was questioned on what he was doing to recover debts amounting to billions of shillings owed to the county by the national government and by individuals. He said he had written to the national Treasury to pay the debts.

“The national government owe us about Sh197 million. We have been pushing for the money to be paid,” said the Bomet governor, revealing that the county was now collecting debts at a higher rate than before.

Governors refused to honour summons last year, saying senators had no power to interrogate them on how counties were run. A court ruling, however, allowed them to summon governors.