Senators suffer blow in their bid for Sh1 billion monitoring kitty

Uasin Gishu Women Representative Gladys Shollei

Members of the National Assembly have dealt Senators a major blow in the latters’ bid for Sh1 billion kitty to help them oversight their respective counties.

In what is likely to rekindle sibling rivalry between members of the two Houses, MPs annulled the regulations drawn by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), which sought to establish the Fund and also spelt out how it was to be utilised by senators.

The move means that the senators cannot put to use the initial Sh500 million set aside in the PSC budget, and which had been approved, since the law guiding public finances requires that such a Fund be administered once the guiding regulations have been passed.

In the last three financial years, MPs have thwarted efforts to offer Senators the Senate Monitoring and Evaluation Fund, declining to approve the budgetary allocations for the same. MPs unanimously supported the recommendations of the Committee on Delegated Legislation, asking the House to annul the entire Regulations, throwing the Senators off-balance.

Consultations

In making the recommendations, the Committee, chaired by Uasin Gishu Women Representative Gladys Shollei, faulted PSC for drafting the set of laws, saying the same was the preserve of the Treasury Cabinet Secretary, who is mandated under Section 205 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFM Act) of 2012 to come up with the said set of rules.

The Committee nonetheless noted that the Commission had consulted National Treasury, Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) and senators before crafting the regulations.

Although Mrs Shollei promised that the Committee would approve the regulations if they were drafted in accordance with the law, majority of the MPs want the Funds to be re-allocated to other needs within the PSC.

“I have no vendetta against the Senate or any senator. If the law is followed in coming up with the regulations, the committee will have no problem in approving them. But as it is, I’m sorry, this committee cannot be the one breaking the law,” argued Shollei.

But some MPs said the senators did not require any funding to undertake their oversight duties. Minority Whip Junet Mohammed said the senators had never given a justification for having the fund. “What is this money going to do? If its oversight, MCAs are already doing it without any funding because that is their work. The main work of the senators is to protect the interests of counties and county governments, that does not require further funding,” he said.

Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya said the duties listed by the regulations as scheduled to be undertaken by senators were perfectly under the jurisdiction of MCAs. “The senators are idle and need work to do, but we should not misuse public funds by allowing them to do the wrong job,” he argued. But Senators trashed the MPs’ decision, terming it an action done in “absolute bad faith”.

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr lamented that the move would only encourage wastage of funds by county executives, as their expenditures would remain unchecked.

“It is not feasible that a House of Parliament that makes laws for the country cannot make laws for itself… While we appropriate monies for departments that are wasting in graft, we are now unable to audit the funds,” he said.