Rival Isiolo speakers face Senate over audit failures

Political tensions in Isiolo County nearly boiled over during a Senate committee session as two rival county assembly speakers, both claiming legitimacy, appeared to respond to audit queries.

Abdullahi Banticha and Mohammed Roba faced the Senate County Public Accounts Committee, placing Senators in a difficult position as they tried to manage the standoff.

Abdullahi assumed the speaker’s role following the alleged removal of Mohammed by a faction of Members of the County Assembly (MCAs). Mohammed, who was initially elected speaker, immediately went to court to contest his removal from office.

Abdullahi, a former Finance County Executive Committee (CEC) member, was elected as a replacement by 16 of 18 MCAs present during the controversial sitting and has since been gazetted.

The dispute dates back to mid-2025, when political infighting produced parallel power centres within the county government.

Mohammed insists that he remains the lawful speaker and continues to operate from the official assembly chambers.

Abdullahi’s supporters, closely aligned with Governor Abdi Guyo, held sessions in an alternative venue, including the approval of the county budget.

The matter is before the High Court, where conflicting rulings have deepened confusion, and both factions face accusations of violating court directives. Under Kenyan law, only one county assembly and one speaker are recognised, but Isiolo’s crisis has created an unprecedented constitutional dilemma.

At the Senate hearing on Monday, chaired by Moses Kajwang’ (Homa Bay) and led by vice chair Johnes Mwaruma (Taita Taveta), county assembly clerk Guracha Salad struggled to explain why the assembly had not responded to the Auditor General’s audit queries for the 2023–2024 financial year.

Senators questioned the failure to reply to a September letter from the Auditor General.

“Did you get the letter from the AG requesting you to send responses on the audit queries? Did you or did you not get the letter?” asked Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua.

Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni demanded clarification on why investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations into assembly vandalism reported four months ago remained incomplete.

Salad explained, “We only wrote a letter to the Senate committee and copied the OAG. The county assembly was vandalised by goons, documents were stolen and some were burnt. We had to relocate the assembly to Oldonyiro.”

The turmoil in the assembly followed an earlier attempt to impeach Governor Guyo. Although 16 MCAs initially voted to remove him, the Senate acquitted the governor after ruling that the charges did not meet the constitutional threshold.

Soon after, suspected hired goons attacked the assembly chambers, destroying property and making the facility unusable. Some MCAs who initially supported the impeachment later shifted allegiance to the governor.

The leadership stalemate persists despite recent reconciliation efforts between the governor, his deputy, and several MCAs.

Other Topics To Read

• Headlines
• Isiolo County
• Senators
• Audit Queries
• Abdi Guyo
• Governor Abdi Guyo
• Senate County Public Accounts Committee
• County assemblies
• public payroll
• Isiolo Speaker Mohammed Koto
• Kenyan politics
• speakership dispute
• assembly vandalism
• governance crisis
• Rival Isiolo speakers face Senate over audit failures
• News

Further concerns have emerged over county staff management, with Senator Fatuma Dullo highlighting that 485 employees hired under Guyo’s administration are on the payroll, while an additional 250 staff members are missing, raising questions about irregular hiring or political targeting.

Fatuma demanded full human resource and payroll data from the county to address potential injustices.

The Senate session revealed the ongoing governance challenges in Isiolo County, where parallel power centres, unresolved audit queries, and contested leadership continue to threaten stability and accountability.