Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka has condemned the attack on a Senate delegation visiting Kisii County, accusing Governor Simba Arati of orchestrating the incident.
In a statement on Monday, June 8, Onyonka alleged that the attack was a deliberate attempt to derail the Senate’s oversight mission.
“I strongly condemn the attack by goons and criminals who were hired by Simba Arati on the Senate Team during the Senate visit to Kisii County to audit and oversee the county’s books and spending.
"This happened under the glaring watch of the members of the Senate Budget and Finance Committee,” he said.
The incident reportedly took place while the Senate Budget and Finance Committee was conducting an official audit of Kisii County’s financial management.
Read More
According to Onyonka, the attack was intended to distract the public from ongoing concerns about financial mismanagement in the county.
“By attacking the oversight team that works in the Kisii County Senate office, the agenda is to divert public attention from the real issues in the Kisii County audited accounts so that the public doesn’t get to know how their resources are being wasted, the law on procurement being violated and for silly politics to take center stage,” he continued.
Onyonka described Arati's alleged involvement as barbaric, accusing him of undermining the constitutional process.
“The Senate Budget and Finance Committee visited Kisii not to fight physical wars but to audit the Kisii County’s books as required by the law. It is unfortunate and barbaric that, instead of presenting a technical team and experts to respond to the issues, the governor of Kisii decided to unleash and organise gangs to attack, disrupt and frustrate the exercise," he stated.
Onyonka vowed that the Senate would not be intimidated and that the oversight process would continue with or without resistance.
“We are going to hold every state and public officer accountable and answerable, no matter the circumstances. We will scrutinise Kisii County books and expenditure and see how the public resources have either been used, misused, or misappropriated, even if it means us doing it under the deployment of militarised gangs to frustrate the same," he further said.
In a pointed message to Arati, Onyonka warned against the use of violence to silence accountability.
"I want to tell Simba Arati that he does not have a monopoly on violence. Some of us act cool for reasons that we are well-mannered, cultured, and schooled. Lack of basic education is what has turned Kisii County the most chaotic, with a display of the most incompetent leadership that only resolves everything with violence because someone is completely nescient to address the issues at hand as required," he noted.
However, despite the disruption, Onyonka affirmed that the Senate would continue to fulfill its constitutional mandate.
“It is the constitutional responsibility of the Senate to do its oversight job, and nothing will stop us from performing the duties that we were elected to," he concluded.
-1749476762.jpg)
