By ROSELYNE OBALA
Kenya: Governors have taken great exception to threats from the Senate to take action against them over failure to honour invites to shed light on alleged misappropriation of county funds.
They said matters to do with mis-management of funds should be addressed at the Inter-Governmental Relations Committee.
Governors’ Council Finance Committee Chairman Ahmed Abdullahi Mohammed took issue with the conduct of the Senate Committee on Finance accusing them of taking the matter out of context and urged the legislators to be honest.
“We are two levels of government, which are distinct. County individual accounting officers supervised by their respective county finance executives should be held responsible for any misuse of funds,” he said.
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He said that under Article 1(4), sovereign power rests in the national and county governments and therefore, governors are a symbol and manifestation of that power at the county level.”
He continued, “The officers are supposed to be summoned by their respective county assemblies as it is the legislative arm of the county governments.”
Mr Mohammed, who is also the Wajir Governor reiterated that senators’ concerns regarding financial issues should be addressed by respective county senators and not the Senate Finance Committee as the council has no collective responsibility over counties.
“The Governors’ Council cannot be summoned. There is no collective responsibility; each county should be assessed individually,” he said.
The tough talking governor, in particular criticised senators arguing that matters regarding investigations should be handled in a proper manner.
Mohammed was speaking to The Standard on phone.
