ODM party leader Raila Odinga has criticised the Senate’s practice of summoning governors to appear before its committees.
Speaking at the Devolution Conference in Homa Bay County on Thursday, August 14, Raila said the responsibility of oversight should lie with county assemblies.
"County Governments are supposed to be oversight by County Assemblies, not the Senate. Therefore, it is unnecessary for the Senate to be summoning governors to go appear before senators in Nairobi.
"The public accounts and public investment committees should summon not even governors, but the chief executives of the county government. It is a waste of time to summon governors all the time to appear before Parliamentary Committees," he said.
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Raila further proposed an incentive arrangement where county governments that deliver the best services can be rewarded.
"Devolution is a process, not an event. It’s about finding a balance between national and local aspirations. I want to propose that there be some incentive arrangements between the national and county governments through which the national govt will reward those counties that deliver the best services," he added.
Raila's remarks come a day after President William Ruto called out Parliament over corruption, accusing MPs of turning legislative committees into 'extortion rings'.
Speaking in Homa Bay on Wednesday, August 13, he condemned the practice of MPs soliciting money to write favorable reports or overlook corruption.
Ruto emphasized that such behavior undermines the integrity of oversight institutions.
"There is something happening in parliament that must be called out. There is money being demanded from executive, from governors, from people in executive especially those who are for accountability.
"It cannot continue to be business as usual. It cannot be committees of parliament demand to be paid for them to write reports or look the other way," he said.
