Isaac Ruto under fire for snubbing Senate summons on funds misuse

A Senate watchdog is furious about being snubbed by Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto. Mr Ruto was expected to appear before the County Public Account and Investment Committee to shed light on his county's expenditure following concerns raised in Auditor General Edward Ouko's audit report.

The senators were yesterday angered that despite confirming that he would appear before the committee, he instead sent County Secretary Jonathan Soi, County Executive Committee Finance member David Cheruiyot and Chief Financial Officer Rose Kositany to respond to queries.

The committee dismissed the officials and ordered Mr Ruto to be surcharged for the funds spent on the officers' trip to Nairobi for the meeting.

"This committee takes great exception to the governor's conduct because the meeting was set for today (Tuesday) at his request," noted committee chairman Senator Boni Khalwale (Kakamega).

The committee asked the Office of the Clerk to write to Ruto and compel him to respond to audit queries raised in Mr Ouko's report.

But in a quick rejoinder, Ruto expressed shock and disappointment that the committee refused to listen to his county officials, who directly involved with the finances in question.

"The senators are misusing their constitutional powers to exact authority through summoning governors, "said Ruto. “Sending the officials to represent the county government should not be construed to mean disrespect. They had all the documents backing the queries."

Ruto argued that the debts noted by Ouko were all accounted for.