Senate watchdog committees want corrupt county chiefs and other officials charged and made to return looted public funds.

The County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) and the County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee (CPISFC) also said they would come up with a criteria for ranking governors.

Yesterday, after their election CPAC chair Moses Kajwang’ (Homa Bay) and his CPISFC counterpart Godfrey Osotsi (Vihiga) decried how the public has been losing funds in the hands of rogue governors and county officials.

The Senate leadership dissolved all committees following the rapprochement of President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Stung a by a High Court ruling that all audit reports must be reviewed and considered by Parliament within three months from the date of reception from the Office of the Auditor General, Kajwang’ proposed an omnibus motion to deal with the 47 County Executive Reports.

Speaking after his unanimous election, an elated Kajwang’ clarified that the Constitution requires Parliament to consider and take appropriate action on the reports within three months.

“We will bring one motion for discussion. We will bring all the reports to the House in one motion and we will move the House Business Committee to allocate even one week for debate and we will go through the reports and make general recommendations then we will direct the CPAC to invite the governors to deal with specific recommendations,” said Kajwang’.

He further charged that his committee is going to be ruthless in tackling graft in the devolved units, adding that they will not be swayed by dubious pollsters.

“We are going to terrorise thugs and thieves in the counties. We are going to be ruthless with the governors and County officials. We are not going to be swayed by some dubious opinion polls,” said Kajwang’.

In an apparent departure from the norms, Kajwang’ was categorical that they will seek the services of the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) to come up with a criteria of ranking governors which he proposed should be based on Own Source Revenue (OSR), Human Resource practices and development record.

Senate Deputy Minority leader Enock Wambua (Kitui), a member of the committee, urged his colleagues to concentrate more on the audit reports of the current governors.

This, he argued, would ensure that the current county chiefs are put to task to explain how they have utilised funds at their disposal before they leave office.

“Let us deal with the current governors. If we start dealing with the old queries then we may not get time to deal with the current issues,” charged Wambua.

Osotsi said Parliament will seek a review of ruling that wants the House to look at audit reports within six months.

“It is not practical for Parliament and County Assemblies to process reports in less than six months, the High Court ruling made over that matter was unfair which calls for review” said Osotsi.

The Vihiga senator said that the committee has over 1,000 reports to look at.

The Vihiga lawmaker said his committee looked at audit reports of 80 water companies and had started to look at the audit reports of public hospitals in counties to ensure prudent expenditure of public funds.

 He said that they were also dealing with the issue of unremitted county and defunct local authorities pensions amounting to Sh80 billion.

Migori Senator Eddy Oketch, who was elected Vice Chair of CPISFC, urged all members notwithstanding their political affiliation to work together to ensure that they clear backlog before embarking on new assignments.

Meanwhile,  all allies of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua have been kicked out of  Senate sessional and standing committees.

At least some five committees will now be led  by members from opposition chief Raila Odinga’s Orange party.

Karungo Thang’wa (Kiambu), Lenku Seki (Kajiado), James Murango (Kirinyaga), Joe Nyutu (Murang’a) and John Methu (Nyandarua) were purged from chairing House committees and replaced with lieutenants of either President William Ruto or Raila.

Besides Gachagua’s allies, Ruto’s fierce critics including Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka and Okiya Omtatah (Busia) were also moved to other committees.

Although the rest of the committees have planned elections of chairpersons and vice chairpersons next week, Thang’wa, who was kicked out of the Roads, Transportation and Housing Committee took to social media to inform his supporters of the purge.

Thang’wa said the purge had been looming for months, and had finally been effected by the House leadership.

“I knew it would happen! I expected it! The purge has been effected. I take it like a man and vow to soldier on, unbowed. Meanwhile, I sincerely thank the yellow party (UDA) for freeing up my schedule. Chairing the Roads and Transport Committee at the Senate was great,” Thang’wa posted on his X account.

The lawmaker said that he was now free to take on the government head-on since he was not a chairman of any committee.

“Now, with no shackles on my hands, it’s time to inject proper! —without speed bumps! I continue serving the Nation and the People with my head high!” said Thang’wa.

Besides Transport, Thang’wa has also been removed from the powerful Senate County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee.

Nyandarua lawmaker Methu, on the other hand, suffered a double blow after he was kicked out of the Land, Environment and Natural Resources committee where he served as the chairperson and the Senate County Public Accounts Committee where he served as a member.

Just like Thang’wa, Methu also took to social media to announce his ouster from the committees, blaming his political alignment for the purge.