Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei has led senators in lamenting the absence of Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi from appearing before the Senate’s plenary session.

In a heated exchange on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, Cherargei criticised Mbadi for repeatedly skipping the senate session.

He urged the speaker to rein in on the CS, as he had also resorted to the same tactics in the past.

“The CS was supposed to appear, and if my memory serves me right, he has requested many deferments for far too long,” he said.

His sentiments followed a confirmation from the sitting speaker, Senator Mohammed Haji, that the CS had indeed written and requested a deferral for the day.

“We have received an apology from Treasury CS John Mbadi, who requested that his question time be rescheduled to a later date. The apology was received in the right channel. It came 24 hours before,” the pressing speaker confirmed.

In his lamentations, Cherargei bemoaned the timing of Mbadi’s questioning postponement, which was in bad taste and disrespectful to the Senate’s standing orders.

He opined that he and other senators had left the chamber on Tuesday, knowing the CS would be present to answer questions along with CS Geoffrey Ruku and Hanna Cheptumo (who both honoured the morning session.)

Uncalled for

“For Mbadi to request in the morning when he knew he needed to be here is uncalled for. He is one of the experts, and we need his expert opinion on very important issues we seek to know,” he added. 

While sharing in the concerns of Kitui Senator Enock Wambua, Cherargei implored the senate to order the CS to appear before the house next week on Wednesday.

“We demand that you direct that he appear without fail by Wednesday next week to answer the question we have raised. We had given him seven days to appear; if he knew he would not appear, he could have given us adequate notice, and we could have rescheduled the business of the house. You have to tell the minister that his apology is not accepted,” he directed.