Insights

Ichung’wah to MPs: Let us offer meaningful oversight to the Executive

Thursday 29th January, 2026 02:32 PM| By Ndiritu Wanjiru

The National Assembly majority leader, Kimani Ichung’wah, has called on the Members of Parliament to offer meaningful oversight to the executive as one of the mandate of the National Assembly.

Speaking while standing on a point of order during a presentation by the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of National Treasury, Chris Kiptoo, at an MPs retreat in Naivasha on Thursday, January 29, 2026, Kimani has called on the Members of Parliament to offer meaningful oversight to the executive arm of the government and avoid politics while offering criticism.

“I will tell you I spoke of it and I have pleaded with these Members to offer meaningful oversight over the executive because when you release money, for example, to pay pending bills and some of your colleagues then use the money to extort money from the suppliers, that is where we go wrong”, Kimani said.

Members of Parliament during a mid-term retreat on Tuesday, January 28, 2025.PHOTO/https://web.facebook.com/ParliamentKE

corruption in government ministries

The Majority Leader faulted the corrupt practices where accounting officers in government ministries are corrupt and always seek money from suppliers to pay their pending bills once the money is released from the national treasury.

“PS, I rise on a point of order, and I hear you that you have done the ex-checker releases for the payment of pending bills, and you know the national treasury is a super ministry, and you are also a super PS to the extent of the powers that you have at the national treasury.

“You also know that our laws obligate accounting officers in the ministries to ensure that pending bills are the first charge to the ex- checker, and I think that is where we go wrong, because you are releasing money to the ministries, but because of the corrupt practices in the ministries, accounting officers are not settling pending bills, and that is the bottom line,” Kimani added.

Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo during a briefing by the project team on the automation of Kenya's external debt payment platform, on Tuesday, January 27, 2026. PHOTO/@kiptoock/X — Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo during a briefing by the project team on the automation of Kenya’s external debt payment platform, on Tuesday, January 27, 2026. PHOTO/@kiptoock/X

Kimani urged the PS for the national treasury to be keen on his colleagues who are the accounting officers in the government ministry, to make sure they pay the pending bills to the suppliers in good time once his ministry releases the ex-checker.