Africa-Press – Kenya. Marsabit Governor Ali Muhamud Mohamed risks being fined Sh500, 000 after he defied an invitation to appear before the County Public Accounts Committee of the Senate.
The committee has given the county boss one last chance to appear before members on May 17, 2023, and warned him that he will pay the fine if he fails to show up. The governor angered the committee members after snubbing an invitation.
He had been scheduled to appear before the committee on May 2, 2023, to respond to audit queries raised by the Office of the Auditor General report for the 2019/20 financial year.
However, when the committee convened on Tuesday, it was served a letter from the governor seeking the postponement of the meeting. In the letter, the governor did not give reasons but requested the meeting be deferred as he was not ready.
The office Clerk, in its brief, observed that the Governor had not submitted written responses to the committee or even to the regional audit office in Nyeri as required by the law.
The Public Audit Act requires accounting officers to submit written responses arising from audit queries seven days before the appearance of the governor.
“We reject the governor’s letter and proceed to issue summons compelling his appearance,” ruled Senator Moses Kajwang, who chairs the committee. Kajwang directed that the Governor appears before the committee on May 17, to explain himself over the request.
“The governor must appear before the committee on May 17, 2023, failure to which the committee will pronounce itself on the matter through the Powers and Privileges Act,” he said. The Act provides that any person who violates the rules of parliament or any of its committees is liable to a fine not exceeding Sh500,000.
Governor Mohamed, who is serving his second and final term, had earlier written to the committee urging it to defer the meeting as he was out of the country for a religious pilgrimage.
But the committee rejected the request after a TV footage captured him in a Council of Governors meeting at a time he had alleged he was out of the country.
Last week, the committee slapped the Wajir governor Ahmed Abdillahi with a Sh500,000 fine after it found him culpable of giving false information under oath
The two governors are part of a group of four county chiefs the committee has accused of using religion as an excuse to run away from accountability. Others are Garissa’s Nadhif Jama and Mohamed Adan Khalif of Mandera county.
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