Isiolo Governor fined Sh500,000 for snubbing Senate Committee over audit queries

A Senate watchdog committee has fined Isiolo Governor Abdi Ibrahim Guyo Sh500,000 for snubbing invitations to appear before it to answer audit queries concerning the expenditure of public funds by his county government.

The Senate Public Accounts Committee have also threatened to have the governor arrested and presented before it for disregarding the committee's summonses to respond to audit queries.

The seven-member committee led by Homabay Senator Moses Kajwang reprimanded Governor Abdi over failure to respond through written submissions or appear before it Friday when the Senators sat at the County Assembly Chambers despite having received prior invitations.

It was not the first time the Governor dodged the committee- he has since March last year missed four summonses after successfully securing postponement.

The Senators rejected his fifth request for postponement of the March 8 session in Isiolo to June this year to ostensibly allow the collection of key documents from officials who served in the previous regime and had left service, terming it offensive and a growing trend to disparage the Senate.

All Isiolo MCAs, County Assembly Clerk and Speaker, members of the County Public Accounts Committee and members of the county executive snubbed the proceedings with only Seargeant-at-arms and two sergeants showing up.

Other members of the committee are Samson Cherargei (Vice-Chairperson), Okiya Omtatah (Busia), Mwenda Gataya (Tharaka-Nithi), Richard Onyonka (Kisii), Fatuma Dullo (Isiolo) and Nominated Senator Mariam Omar.

Senate Public Accounts Committee led by Chairman Moses Kajwang' with Isiolo Deputy Governor James Lowasa at Isiolo Referral Hospital Mortuary on March 8, 2024. (Photo: Eastleigh Voice)

Responding to Governor Abdi's past remarks that only residents who elected him could question him, Kajwang said the Senate like the National Assembly had powers, either directly or through committees to summon any person to appear before it to give evidence or provide crucial information.

Parliamentary powers

Article 125 (2) states that the Parliament and any of its committees have the same powers as the High Court- enforce the attendance of witnesses, examine them and compel the production of documents.

"If he were a protector of public resources, he would have been here to even also share the challenges he could be facing. It is ironical that they (Governors) want the shareable allocation to the counties increased but do not want to account for the resources," Kajwang said during the proceeding.

Senator Onyonka said the Governor was not above the law and could not decide when and how to appear before the Senate committee.

"The guilty are always afraid. Why is he running away if he (Governor) is not doing anything suspicious?" Cherargei posed.

The committee also inspected several projects under construction including county assembly chambers, county headquarters, town modern market, stadium, Isiolo Referral Hospital mortuary and Mwangaza dispensary.

The Senators did not access the county headquarters on claims that the key to the entrance was missing.

The building that will cost taxpayers more than Sh600 million is 45 per cent complete with minimal work happening in the last six months.

Deputy Chief Architect at the State Department of Public Works David Waititu revealed that a total of Sh180 million, Sh9 million from the county government and the rest by the national government, had been injected into the project.

A view of the Isiolo stadium that has stalled. (Photo: Eastleigh Voice)

Following insistence by the county government that it had pumped extra funds into the project, the Senators demanded a thorough audit before the handover of the project.

During the visit, it was established that little work was going on at the Sh545 million modern market and no work at the Sh346 million state-of-the-art stadium. Some Sh339 million and Sh262.8 million have already been paid for the two projects, respectively.

The Senators said they were shocked to establish that Isiolo stadium whose construction started in June 2019 and which the county insists is 81 per cent complete, only had one structure, terraces and tartan track were not done among other facilities.

Auditor General's report

The stadium is among those with scanty information with representatives from the Office of Auditor General saying the county refused to provide crucial documents during the audit.

At the Isiolo Referral Hospital morgue whose coolers broke down forcing the facility to issue an alert to police not to drop unclaimed bodies there, the Senators were welcomed by Deputy Governor James Lowasa who also doubles up as the County Health Executive.

The Senate Public Accounts Committee led by Senate Moses Kajwang' addresses journalists at Mwangaza dispensary in Isiolo on March 8, 2024. (Photo: Eastleigh Voice)

He was accompanied by the Referral Hospital Medical Superintendent Hussein Mohammud.

Dr Lowasa assured that plans were underway to repair the refrigerators in three weeks' time with the legislators demanding that the process be expedited. "Tender opening was done today and the award would be speeded up so that the repair work starts soonest," he said.

The morgue that is currently preserving bodies emanating from the Referral Hospital has been using embalming and formalin to preserve bodies, at least for some days.

Addressing journalists after the inspection tour, Kajwang directed Governor Abdi to pay the Sh500,000 fine from his own personal account for failing to appear before the Senate committee.

"We will at a date to be later announced issue summonses and will not hesitate to instruct the Inspector General of Police to ensure he appears and if he fails, be arrested and presented before us," he said.

Senator Fatuma Dullo implored Isiolo residents to demand services from the leadership including the county government saying, all elected leaders had the mandate to fulfil.

The legislator has been at loggerheads with the Governor who is accusing her of carrying out 2027 campaigns in the guise of oversight and who has severally insisted that he would not honour summonses from the Senate.

On her part, Fatuma Dullo insists she is only doing the work that Isiolo residents elected her to do and would stop until Isiolo residents are satisfied with the services being provided by the devolved government.

"It is sad that MCAs who should be augmenting the Senate are lying on the same bed with the executive. That is why their work is to go for trips while local residents continue to languish in poverty," she said.

Senator Omtatah said the committee would also investigate where plundered resources were being directed, revealing that the Senators could even write to the President to dissolve the county or Controller of Budget to stop the release of funds until transparency is above board.