Senate calls out CS Mbadi for skipping session without explanation

The Senate is unimpressed by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi over his failure to honour an invite to appear before the House to respond to various questions.

Mbadi had been slated to appear before the Senate on Wednesday morning, with Senate Speaker Amason Kingi informing the House that he had sent a letter stating he would not be available due to other engagements on the very morning he was set to appear.

The Senate Speaker, Amason Kingi, termed Mbadi’s letter as contemptuous since it did not indicate why he did not appear to answer questions, noting that this was the second time he was failing to come before the House. He stated that any time  Cabinet Secretaries fail to appear, it is a disservice to Kenyans.

“Every time Cabinet Secretaries fail to appear before Parliament whenever they are required to answer questions, they are failing Kenyans. I am advising Members of Parliament to institute a censure motion against Cabinet Secretaries who show disrespect to Parliament,” said Kingi.

The Senate Speaker said that there was a day they almost adjourned a Wednesday morning sitting after all the Cabinet Secretaries invited failed to appear as scheduled, and that serious action needs to be taken against those who do not come whenever required, in order for it to serve as a lesson to others.

Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua said that it was regrettable that Mbadi, who is a former legislator, was showing contempt to the House, bearing in mind one of the questions he was coming to respond to concerned the welfare of former Members of Parliament, something he had championed previously.

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Wambua said the Cabinet Secretary had accompanied President William Ruto on a trip to Nyanza, where he is quoted as having told a public rally that the President was holding the knife on one side as he held it on the other side in the sharing and allocation of national resources.

“Mbadi, while serving as a Member of the National Assembly, championed the welfare of Members of Parliament who served the country since independence and are alive to be improved. That is the question I expected him to respond to now that he is the Cabinet Secretary in charge,” said Wambua.

Senate Chief Whip Boni Khalwale said Mbadi had failed to appear before the Senate Finance and Budget Committee on Tuesday, where they were to deliberate on the Division of Revenue Bill together with the Council of Governors and the Commission on Revenue Allocation, claiming he was in a Cabinet meeting.

Khalwale said that while accompanying the President on a tour in Nyanza, Mbadi confidently said that the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital had in the previous year been allocated Sh300 million and that now he is CS for Treasury, it is going to get Sh3 billion.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna said that it was disappointing that some Cabinet Secretaries—some of whom are former Members of Parliament—once appointed, think they are there to serve the interests of their ethnic communities, arguing that they should be aware they are serving all Kenyans and not just their regions.

“Mbadi has got the audacity not to appear before this House without a clear reason, yet I saw him on a live television show on Tuesday night and he accompanied the President during a tour of his region. Yet he is showing contempt to the Senate, despite being a former MP who should know better,” said Sifuna.

The Nairobi Senator argued that there is nothing like a broad-based government, since what exists is the Kenya Kwanza government in power, and that whether Cabinet Secretaries were former Members of the UDA or ODM parties, they should respect the Houses of Parliament which represent citizens.

Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana said that it was absurd for Mbadi to talk about increasing allocation to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital tenfold, yet there are other hospitals of similar status across the country which have not enjoyed similar privileges.

Mungatana said that it was time they passed legislation barring Cabinet Secretaries from accompanying the President in public rallies and instead concentrate on doing their work, since they are no longer in the political arena but are meant to serve the interests of all Kenyans at all times.

Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo said that Cabinet Secretaries are supposed to inform the House seven days in advance that they will not be available before the House, and not give excuses on the day they are supposed to come, which clearly shows they do not take Parliament work seriously.

“I would like to inform my fellow Senators that we should not lament. If a Cabinet Secretary does not give the House satisfactory reasons as to why they will not be appearing before the House two days in advance, they should be surcharged for wasting our time,” said Dullo.

Bungoma Senator Wafula Wakoli said the country has 47 counties and 290 constituencies, and if Cabinet Secretaries will be championing their region’s interest alone, they should not come before the House for their ministry’s budget approval but should then go back to their villages for that to be done.

Wakoli said that legislators on the government side take time to defend Cabinet Secretaries but they were letting them down, and if they snub the House, they should also be ignored whenever they are seeking Members of Parliament’s input to pass their respective ministries' budgets.

“Cabinet Secretaries should be telling Kenyans what they have done for the whole country and not going out there proudly talking of what they have done for the regions they come from, since that shows they do not deserve to hold the positions they have,” said Wakoli.