Senators clash over seven Cabinet Secretaries accompanying Ruto to UN meeting

Government and opposition senators clashed over the decision by seven Cabinet Secretaries to accompany President William Ruto to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The opposition senators said the nonappearance of the Cabinet Secretaries had affected the Senate’s ability to engage the Executive on issues of concern to Kenyans, while also raising questions about the cost of the large government delegation travelling to the United States.

Speaking during deliberations on Wednesday morning plenary sitting at the Kilifi County Assembly, broad-based government allied senators supported the trip saying it was as an opportunity for Cabinet Secretaries to conduct government business related to their dockets.

This follows the absence of Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba, Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho and Information Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo before the Senate plenary, where they were supposed to respond to various questions touching on their dockets.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale led the onslaught against the Cabinet Secretaries saying that Parliament should be concerned about the number of senior government officials accompanying the President.

“It should be known that Kenya is not a failed state where seven Cabinet Secretaries can accompany the President to the United Nations General Assembly and the responsibility that they are going to discharge is to sit in the background when the President is reading a statement,” said Dr Khalwale.

The Kakamega Senator told the House the New York trip has serious implications as far as the running of government is concerned as well the huge impact on public finances, citing air tickets, security and other expenses incurred by the huge delegation.

“The Parliament of Kenya should be concerned because the huge President delegation including Cabinet Secretaries, Members of Parliament and other senior officials not only has a bearing on the efficiency of how our government is run but has some financial implications,” said Khalwale.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna raised concerns on the consequences of the Cabinet Secretaries skipping Senate summons and the people who had been expecting answers from the four Cabinet Secretaries expected with only Youth Affairs and Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya showing up.

Sifuna said he had expected the Mining CS to appear before the Kilifi County Assembly after the Senate Agriculture Committee’s visited the Kilifi Central fish landing site.

The Nairobi Senator told the House that the Agriculture Committee, working jointly with the Energy and Lands committees, had visited the facility and encountered several concerns from fishermen, young people and residents that needed to be urgently addressed.

“I had the intensions of raising the concerns of the Kilifi fishermen directly with the Cabinet Secretary for Mining and Blue Economy, particularly concerns over employment opportunities for young people living around the project and they are very worried,” said Sifuna.

He said the Kilifi residents had also been informed that the facility could be operated through a public-private partnership, raising questions about how the arrangement would affect the local community.

Sifuna said he had seen CS Joho post on social media walking on the streets of New York City confidently yet he rarely sees Cabinet Secretaries walking around the capital to experience the conditions faced by ordinary residents.

“When you compared Nairobi’s infrastructure and pedestrian environment with that of New York they are two worlds apart, our country’s capital city still faced significant challenges in roads and pavements, the government should have focused on creating infrastructure that enables non-motorised transport and improves the security of pedestrians,” he said.

The Nairobi Senator asked the Speaker to direct the House on the earliest date when the three Cabinet Secretaries would appear to address the concerns of Kenyans.

However, Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana defended the CSs in the President’s delegation, saying international trips provided opportunities for them to hold separate meetings with their counterparts and negotiate agreements.

Mungatana said such engagements allowed the government to accomplish several tasks during one trip instead of making separate journeys and that whenever a ministry is required to sign an agreement it was easier to have separate meetings during such a trip.

“During such Presidential trips there is a lot of multitasking that goes on, there are many things that can be accomplished at the same time instead of coming back and then dispatching the Cabinet Secretaries to other countries,” said Mungatana.

The Tana River Senator maintained that Senators had a responsibility to explain to the public that CSs accompanying the President abroad were involved in other official engagements.

Mungatana said that it was not true that the only duty that the CSs was to sit behind the President and just pass notes during such important forums, as it was being alleged by some members.

 The dispute comes as the Senate conducts its Mashinani programme in Kilifi, an initiative that takes the House’s oversight and legislative work closer to counties and gives residents an opportunity to raise issues directly with senators.

The Constitution requires Cabinet Secretaries to appear before Senate or National Assembly committees when required to answer questions relating to their dockets. Article 125 gives either House and its committees’ powers to summon persons to provide evidence or information.