Senate committee in push to bar counties from hiring law firms

He claimed that despite having funded county attorney offices, counties were incurring billions of shillings in legal fees.

In the meeting, the committee noted that no law bars counties from engaging private lawyers, leading to reports of misuse of funds.

“There is a lot of misuse of public resources in outsourcing legal services, informed by lack of law restricting county bosses from the same,” noted the committee.

The committee further deliberated on the need to curb the misuse of funds by putting in place measures to restrain the county bosses from outsourcing legal services.

Further, the committee agreed that there was a need to restrict county governments on the amount of money to be spent on private law firms.

According to the committee, there was a need to put measures to stop misuse of funds in governments, so that county bosses are held accountable for their actions.

The Senate also invited institutions to give their opinions on what should be done, including the Council of Governors, Kenya Law Reform Commission, Law Society of Kenya and Katiba Institute.

“Other institutions invited to give their proposals on the petition are Transparency International, Kenya National Human Rights Commission, Kenya Human Rights Commission, and The Institute of Social Accountability, among others,” the committee agreed.

The committee is expected to submit its report on findings before the Senate, to either adopt or disallow the prayers in Omusundi’s petition.

The petition was committed to the committee by Amason Kingi, the Speaker of the Senate, on April 30, 2024.