Governors: Senate can’t audit us

Governors and senators locked horns Wednesday over powers to summon the county bosses for questioning on the use of devolved funds.

Whereas the Council of Governors argued that the Senate had no authority to summon its members, the senators maintained that they had constitutional powers to do so.

Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi, representing the governors, Wednesday told three High Court judges that the National Government was distinct from county governments and each had a recognised body to monitor its work.

He made argument during a petition by the council against governors being summoned by the Senate.

“The decision to summon governors was without any legal basis,” he said. “Maybe we should have civic education for the senators to understand that their role is legislative and not to summon governors.”

The senators’ threat to block release of funds to counties whose governors refused to appear before it was ill-advised and unconstitutional, he said.

He accused the senators of equating themselves to the High Court in issuing such threats, arguing that only the court or county executive committees had the power to request the controller of budget to withhold funds.

“It is only the National Assembly which has powers to allocate funds to National Government and ask how it has been spent.

“The Senate can only discuss how much is to be allocated to counties, but it has no power to audit how the money is spent.”

Lawyer Wilfred Nyamu, representing Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua, said the counties have enough institutions to monitor their expenditure.

“The county treasury is not controlled by the governor and the right person to be summoned would be the county executive officer in charge of finance.

CANNOT RUN AWAY

“In any event, the county assembly has the power to monitor county funds without involving the senate,” he said.

The Senate’s lawyer, Mr Kioko Kilukumi, maintained that senators had a role in monitoring how funds allocated to counties are spent based on the legislative privileges accorded to them.

“The governors cannot run away from issues of integrity, transparency and accountability,” he said. “They are state officers and must be held responsible for any financial transactions in their counties as the chief executive officers.”

In any event, Mr Kilukumi said the governors were summoned as witnesses and not in their individual capacities to help the senate unravel questionable transactions involving millions of shillings in their counties.

“The Senate can summon anyone including judges. The most civil thing would have been for the governors to appear but refuse to give any evidence based on valid reasons supported by law,” said Kilukumi.

Justices Isaac Lenaola, Mumbi Ngugi and George Odunga will deliver a ruling on notice.