• The term of the current County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) ended in December last year.
• A new team was to to be set up on resumption of the House business in February.
Delays in the formation of a Senate oversight committee is threatening to derail ongoing probe of at least 23 current and former governors.
The term of the current County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) ended in December last year.
A new team was to be set up on resumption of the House business in February. It did not happen.
The Star has established that several senators are scrambling to sit in the nine-member lucrative committee, hence the delay. The watchdog committee oversees the counties and the billions of taxpayers’ money they spend every year.
Late last year, the House adopted 63 reports of the committee on the expenditure of the counties and recommended the prosecution and surcharging of some governors.
The reports were sent to the anti-graft agencies — Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations — for action.
The EACC and DCI were expected to report back to the House on the status of the recommendations within three months.
But without an Implementation Committee to see to it that the reports are acted upon by the agencies, the CPAIC was mandated to monitor them.
“There are delays because of consultations here and there but we hope that a new committee will be formed soon. It is only this committee that can follow up and ensure the people who misappropriated money are dealt with according to the law,” outgoing Chairman Moses Kajwang said.
The Homa Bay senator said the delay was not only hurting the implementation of the recommendations but also jeopardising oversight over counties.
The outgoing team recommended investigation of at least 13 current and 10 former governors for the possible loss of funds during their tenure.
Some of the counties mentioned in the CPAIC report on the inquiry into financial operations of county executives in 2013-14 and 2014-15 are Alfred Mutua’s Machakos, Martin Wambora’s Embu and Cornel Rasanga’s Siaya.
Others are Nyamira led by John Nyagarama, Makueni headed by Kivutha Kibwana, Jackson Mandago’s Uasin Gishu, Kericho under Paul Chepkwony, Kwale led by Salim Mvurya and Kilifi under Amason Kingi.
The reports claim that some of the governors oversaw massive irregularities, ranging from flawed multi-million tenders, conflict of interests, over-payments and misuse of car loans and mortgages.
They say public money was lost through inflation and faking of pending bills, poor bookkeeping and failure to recover imprests to employees.
(edited by o. owino)