{"id":113203,"date":"2024-02-18T20:16:37","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T20:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties"},"modified":"2024-02-18T21:05:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T21:05:16","slug":"state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties","title":{"rendered":"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. <\/strong><\/span>State officers ignoring parliamentary invites and summonses could soon be in trouble as senators support a Bill proposing tough punishment, hefty fines and arrest.<\/p>\n

The lawmakers want officials who fail to appear before parliament committees and plenary fined Sh2 million.<\/p>\n

The legislators spoke during a heated debate on the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Bill, 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe usually charge those who fail to honour our summonses a fine of Sh500,000. However, this Bill proposes we increase the amount to Sh2 million,\u201d Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi said.<\/p>\n

Osotsi, who is also the chairman of the Senate County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee, is the sponsor of the Bill.<\/p>\n

He said that he was pushed to introduce the penalties after some governor failed the oversight committee he leads, despite issuing several notices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had occasions where our programming has been affected hugely because of non-appearance by witnesses and late requests to postpone. This has happened severally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Osotsi also wants Parliament to be given powers to arrest witnesses who fail to appear before the committees and plenary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Bill will give us the option that in the event the IG of police is not able to enforce our summon through arrest, then we can do it ourselves, through the direction of the Speaker or the Clerk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna backed the bill, saying some witnesses ignore the House because of the small fines in the current law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is one incident I have never forgotten, where one of the committees imposed a fine that is currently in the books. That is Sh500,000,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor asked our committee clerk if the committee has a pay bill or till number. This is because the amount imposed is very minimal and can fit in your Mpesa account.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former governors Charity Ngilu (Kitui) and Mwangi Wa Iria (Muranga\u0301) are among those who have been slapped by the Sh500,000 fine for failing to honour parliamentary summons.<\/p>\n

He said the move has been worsened by the inaction by Police IG to effect arrests.<\/p>\n

Sifuna said for as long as Parliament relies on other government agencies or institutions to effect the arrests, the August House\u2019s business will stagnate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need this institution to have the powers to arrest people and present witnesses before the committees. I am in full support of the proposition to give this House those powers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo said Parliament needs more teeth to bite and tame contemptuous state officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enhancement of the fines is good, but we need to have more teeth than just fines, now that we are equivalent to the High Court in terms of the powers the committees of this House exercise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei called for amendment of the Bill to increase the fine from Sh2 million to Sh5 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur agenda is to inflict the pain, to ensure that it becomes so painful that when you hear that you need to appear before a parliamentary committee, you shudder with fear and show up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He called for the creation of parliamentary police unit, similar to Anti Stock Theft Police Unit, to effect arrests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can under the Judicial Service Commission and in partnership with the National Police Service Commission, create a Parliamentary Police Unit, such that the Clerk and the Speaker can direct our own police unit to go and frog-match those people who are violating the Constitution,\u201d Cherargei said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Kenya<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. State officers ignoring parliamentary invites and summonses could soon be in trouble as senators support a Bill proposing tough punishment, hefty fines and arrest. The lawmakers want officials who fail to appear before parliament committees and plenary fined Sh2 million. The legislators spoke during a heated debate on the Parliamentary Powers and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":113202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[6857,7003,544],"class_list":["post-113203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-kenya"],"yoast_head":"\nState officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"State officers ignoring parliamentary invites and summonses could soon be in trouble as senators support a Bill proposin ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"State officers ignoring parliamentary invites and summonses could soon be in trouble as senators support a Bill proposin ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-18T20:16:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-18T21:05:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"789\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-18T20:16:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-18T21:05:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties\"},\"wordCount\":596,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Kenya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties\",\"name\":\"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties - kenya\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-18T20:16:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-18T21:05:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"State officers ignoring parliamentary invites and summonses could soon be in trouble as senators support a Bill proposin ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg\",\"width\":789,\"height\":576,\"caption\":\"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\",\"name\":\"kenya\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties - kenya","description":"State officers ignoring parliamentary invites and summonses could soon be in trouble as senators support a Bill proposin ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties","og_description":"State officers ignoring parliamentary invites and summonses could soon be in trouble as senators support a Bill proposin ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties","og_site_name":"kenya","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-02-18T20:16:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-18T21:05:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":789,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties","datePublished":"2024-02-18T20:16:37+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-18T21:05:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties"},"wordCount":596,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Kenya","Kenya"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties","name":"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties - kenya","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg","datePublished":"2024-02-18T20:16:37+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-18T21:05:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"State officers ignoring parliamentary invites and summonses could soon be in trouble as senators support a Bill proposin ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2024\/02\/sm_1708277174.69252.jpg","width":789,"height":576,"caption":"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/state-officers-snubbing-parliament-to-face-tough-penalties#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"State officers snubbing parliament to face tough penalties"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/","name":"kenya","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}