Senators ask Ruto to take action against Cabinet Secretaries ignoring parliament

President William Ruto during a project launch event. [File, Standard] Senators have called on President William Ruto to take action against some Cabinet Secretaries they accused of ignoring invitation to appear before both houses of parliament. Senators raised concerns that they have continued to witness defiance from some Cabinet Secretaries who have ignored appearances to answer questions regarding their ministries before the plenary and various house committees. Lands and Housing Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome on Wednesday morning failed to appear before the Senate plenary to answer questions over land grabbing in the country causing a premature adjournment of the House something that irked the Senators. Land CS Alice Wahome before the Senate's Lands, Environment and Natural Resources at Bunge Towers, Parliament, Nairobi. [File, Standard] CS Wahome informed the House at 7 pm on Tuesday night that she will not appear before the Senate as she will be out of the country while procedurally she was required to do that at least seven days in advance for the chance to be accorded another Cabinet Secretary. The Cabinet Secretary was scheduled to appear before Senators at 9.30 AM on Wednesday to answer questions by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna on growing threat of fraudulent acquisition and encroachment into public land by private developers, especially in Nairobi. The Senate Speaker Amason Kingi noted that Wahome did not even file written responses, which should be submitted to the House at least 12 hours before an appearance pointing out that the consequences of non-attendance when required are contained in the Standing Orders. "I have heard your frustrations and the only way to bring discipline in this area is by invoking provisions of Standing Order 51(d), I do not see any other better way, you may want to use it sparingly or enforce it in full," said Kingi. Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot told the house he has raised the issue of non-appearance by Cabinet Secretaries with President William Ruto and that it was wrong for Wahome to inform the house of her non-availability a few hours to the required time. Cheruiyot said that the Cabinet Secretary should be aware that the Senate is an institution and that she cannot write a letter and send it at 7pm intending to cancel a meeting slated the following morning wondering how she expects that to be taken kindly. The Senate Majority Leader said that the matter was serious that he had taken the trouble to attend a Cabinet retreat chaired by the President wondering whether Wahome had just realized that she was travelling outside the country yesterday terming it as contempt to Parliament. "How do you expect us to function when you write such a letter barely a few hours to your appearance before Parliament, Alice Wahome needs to know she is no longer the MP for Kandara, she is a Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of Kenya," said Cheruiyot. Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua, however blamed Speaker Kingi accusing him of delaying action on the rogue Cabinet Secretaries stating that snubbing of the Senate has happened many times in the last three years and that it should not be treated as something unique at the moment. Wambua said Senate committees are suffering because State officers choose whether to appear before them or not stating that a bad precedent is being set stating that somebody cannot just wake up in the morning and say they will not appear before the Senate and be left to walk away scot-free. "We have seen this happening many times, you have told us to stop lamenting and take action, we have attempted to censure these Cabinet Secretaries, with the last request for a motion of censure was against National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi which is still in your office," said Wambua. Senator Sifuna said Nairobi is under attack by land grabbers and private developers and the least he would have expected is the Cabinet Secretary to treat the appearance before the Senate as urgent and tell the house what her ministry was doing to address concerns raised by Members. "Traveling is planned well in advance and so it is not a surprise, this is totally contemptuous, she should even has sent the written responses to the questions if she knew she was not going to come, what she has done is unacceptable and should not be allowed to continue," said Sifuna. Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui, Mbadi and Wahome have previously found themselves in trouble with Senators for failing to honour invites before the committees and the plenary which has led to Senators vowing to censure them to serve as a lesson to other Cabinet Secretaries. Mbadi has failed to appear before Several committees while Kinyanjui was accused of not honouring invites before the Senate Trade Committee while Wahome was criticized for not honouring invitation by the Senate Lands Committee.

Senators ask Ruto to take action against Cabinet Secretaries ignoring parliament

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