• The committee wants Mutyambai to produce Mutua by Tuesday next week.
• Article 125 of the Constitution gives Parliament the power to summon anyone to appear before it for purposes of providing information.
Image: FILE
A Parliamentary committee has directed police boss Hilary Mutyambai to arrest Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua and produce him before it to respond to audit queries.
The Senate Public Accounts and Investments Committee dismissed a letter by the governor citing political reasons and travel abroad for the nonappearance.
The committee invoked powers bestowed on it by the Constitution and the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act to force the county chief to appear before it.
Mutua ignored a summons issued by the watchdog committee two weeks ago.
He had also ignored an invitation by the committee to appear before it on September 18 to respond to audit queries for 2015-2016, 2016-17 and 2017-18 financial years.
The committee wants Mutyambai to produce Mutua by Tuesday next week.
“We have considered the letter and, again we find the letter by the governor to bear a lot of contempt for the Senate. We find that that letter is an abuse to process and amounts to contempt of Parliament,” Committee chairman Moses Kajwang said.
Kajwang reprimanded the governor for disrespecting Parliament and the committee.
He termed the contents of the letter offensive and insisted that Mutua must be compelled to appear before it to account for the billions of taxpayers’ money.
“The governor wants to take us back to the situation we were in the 10th parliament. Governors were forced to appear before this committee by a very draconian means by the senate,” the chairman added.
Article 125 of the Constitution gives Parliament the power to summon anyone to appear before it for purposes of providing information.
Section 19 of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act also provides sanction against a witness who fails to appear before Parliament or committee.
Section 19 (3) of the Act states that a House of Parliament or committee may order the arrest of a witness who fails to honour summons.
Mutua becomes the second governor to face the wrath of the committee.
In 2016-17, the committee ordered Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya arrested after he ignored a summons.
Oparanya lost a case to block his arrest and appearance before the committee and complied with the summons.
Yesterday, Mutua faulted the committee for ordering his arrest. He said that the panel was aware he was out of the country.
He added that the same committee had cancelled the session after the Machakos County Assembly said its members were in Uasin Gishu and therefore the chamber was not available for the Senate.
“They summoned me to appear on Machakos toady (yesterday) then they said the session was cancelled. Then they say I should be arrested for not showing up yet they are aware I left the country on a foreign trip on the 23rd and they issued summons on 25th,” he said.
In a letter dated September 27, the governor faulted the committee for entertaining ‘sensationalism and political mudslinging’ over their remarks to his September 18 letter.
He claimed that the environment in the committee is not conducive for a sober engagement. Mutua claimed that Machakos Senator Boniface Kabaka wanted the use the committee to advance his personal and political interest.
“It is not disputed that the Senator has personal interests which he is pursuing through the committee, part of which being disputed legal fee claim of over Sh366 million against the county government of Machakos. As such his presence in the committee is a clear case of conflict of interest,” he said.
But Kajwang rubbished the governor’s assertion that Kabaka should not sit in the committee.