Senator Who is Giving Governors Sleepless Nights

Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang is one man who has been giving governors sleepless nights. Together with his Public Accounts Committee counterparts, they are putting governors to task on their county spendings.

Last week, Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu was troubled when he was unable to explain why his county budget report allocated funds to State House and South Sudan Peace process.

There was a mix of disgust, humour, and shock when it emerged the figure of abnormal expenditure was close to Ksh2.5 billion.

The Kiambu governor, who passed the questions to his CEC Finance, admitted after a series of questions, that he had not gone through the audit report himself before eventually disowning it.

So bad was the incident that the Council of Governors decried how their colleague was being handled after the session. 

The CoG told its members to boycott the summons over claims that the report from the office of the Auditor General had several errors including claims that counties spent funds on activities meant for the national government.

In a show of strength, Kajwang dared the governors who had been summoned to boycott the meetings at their own peril, citing the grave consequences that would follow. 

“Failure to appear before the Senate Public Accounts Committee shall attract the consequences spelled out in Section 19 of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act,” Mr. Kajwang’ told governors.

On Monday, Migori governor Okoth Obado had his day with the same committee where he pleaded not to roasted on live TV.  

Obado found himself in hot soup after he was unable to explain how Ksh1.5 billion was spent, blaming fire for the destruction of receipts. 

Obado could not explain why he had not made an effort to get the receipts back after a fire reportedly gutted them down in 2017. 

Kajwang issued him with a 7-day ultimatum to re-produce the receipts

On Tuesday, Homa Bay's Cyprian Awiti was supposed to appear for a dose of the Committee's medicine but failed to show up citing health issues.

Mr. Kajwang’ tasked governors, who were asking the Senate to approve an increase in funds allocation to counties but refusing to be supervised over their expenditure, to give a reasonable explanation of why his committee should approve increased funding.

Moses Kajwang came into the limelight early 2015 when he was elected the second Homabay County Senator to replace his elder brother, the late Gerald Otieno Kajwang, famous for the Mapambano political slogan.

Kajwang, who is just 40 years old was working as the general manager information technology at insurance company ICEA Lion, before eventually joining politics.

After the untimely demise of his elder brother, he took up politics and replaced his fallen brother vying on the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party.

The young and eloquent senator is seen by many as the future of the party, given his good grasp of national affairs. 

His other brother, TJ Kajwang sits in the national assembly as MP for Ruaraka. 

 

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