Governor clashes with senators over summons

Isiolo Governor Abdi Guyo when he appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee at Bunge Tower on June 24,2024. [File, Standard] 

Isiolo Governor Abdi Guyo clashed with senators over his failure to honour summons to appear before various Senate Committees.

Appearing before the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday, Mr Guyo was fined Sh500,000 for failing to honour previous summons after senators said they were not convinced.

And political rivalry between Guyo and Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo played out, with the governor accusing the Senator of using committees to play local politics and micromanage affairs of his administration.

“Let me state that Senator Dullo is a liar, she cannot be using Senate committees to micromanage affairs of Isiolo County Government. She has been seeking multiple statements that require me to appear before several committees,” said Guyo.

He said he was the only governor who has been asked to appear before several committees at the instigation of his senator and urged the committee not to be used to settle political scores.

The accusation angered the senators who accused Guyo of arrogance and undermining authority of the Senate in which they accused him for imputing improper motives on the committee and the Senate. Mombasa Senator Mohamed Faki, who chaired the committee session asked the governor to explain why he failed to attend committee meetings.

Guyo said he neither ignored nor refused to appear but took precautionary measures after his officers raised concerns about their safety, especially after protesters breached security of Parliament in June. “I did not deliberately decide not appear before this committee since there were Gen Z protests on the said date that I was set to appear. My staff feared for their lives,” said Guyo.

The explanation triggered questions from the lawmakers who demanded to know why he had given a different position from the one submitted to the committee in writing with Mr Faki pointing that the information he had sent to Senate was that he was attending an investment conference.

Guyo clarified that the county hosted two other counties for an investment conference but maintained that the planned protests scared away county employees who were to help him respond to questions.

He apologised to the committee for skipping the session but the apology did not convince the committee. “We are not here to undermine you Governor Guyo. Many governors come here with the misconception that we are going to fight them, but they leave happy after they realise we are out to help them perfect their work,” said Faki.

Guyo said he respected the Senate as an institution, but claimed Senator Dullo was out to humiliate him  before the House.

The Senate Finance committee fined the governor Sh500,000 for failing to convince them of his absence in the August meeting and that it would retreat to decide on whether to institute further punishment, forgive him or invite the plenary to decide his fate.

The meeting ended prematurely after the committee established that the governor had submitted his responses on Tuesday morning, and that there was no time for members to scrutinise them before grilling him.