Senators Push for Tougher Consequences for CSs Over House Summons

Senators led by Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot are calling for tougher consequences for Cabinet Secretaries who snub summons to appear before the House,including fines and censures.
The calls were made following Lands CS Alice Wahome’s late communication to Speaker Amason Kingi that she would not appear before the Senators on Wednesday, which she delivered at 7pm on Tuesday. In her letter to the speaker, she claimed that she would be travelling out of the country.
She had been slated to answer questions regarding land-grabbing in Nairobi.
“I have seen the letter purporting that she has travelled out of the country. Did she just realise last night that she will be travelling? This is serious contempt against Parliament,” Cheruiyot stated.
Cheruiyot, therefore, put Speaker Amason Kingi on the spot, urging him to adopt a report passed by the House that provided that failure to honour Parliamentary appearances by CSs and other public officials should attract a fine to incentivise appearance.
“I would like to urge you, we have already passed that report in this house, it is you to adopt and guide the House so that you can lead us to make the necessary amendments that we need to do so that people can begin to treat this house with the seriousness that it deserves,” Cheruiyot told Kingi.
He juxtaposed Wahome’s absence with Agriculture CS Mutahi Kagwe’s apology delivered a week ago, saying that the early notification gave the House sufficient time to adjust its schedule.
As for the Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, he highlighted the seriousness of the CS’s summons, claiming that those serving in crucial ministries like Lands and Health should never miss a summons, and at the very least, should provide written responses.
“These are urgent matters, even if she wasn’t able to come, let her give us written responses so that we can see what the situation is for these parcels of land,” Sifuna stated.
On this, Kingi claimed that the CS might not have even travelled but had skipped the summons because the ministry was not ready with the responses, as they were not filed 12 hours before the Senate appearance, as required.
Kitui’s Enoch Wambua, on the other hand, urged the Speaker to approve the censure of at least one CS to serve as a lesson to the rest.
He claimed that he had suggested a similarcensure for Treasury CS John Mbadi,but the Speaker has yet to submit the censure motion, despite encouraging the Senators to stop lamenting and taking action.
He further warned that if the Speaker does not bite the bullet and censure one of the absentee CSs, a precedent would be set and soon other public servants, including governors, would start doing the same without consequences.
However, the Speaker reminded the senators that they already had the autonomy to censure CSs who miss appearances, as provided in Standing orders 51(d), and it was up to them to choose how to apply the orders.