The Council of Governors (CoG) publicly accused four sitting senators of conducting intimidation, extortion, and harassment against county executives during Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) audit hearings. The Senate has taken an extraordinary step that has created an escalating power struggle between itself and regional governments that threatens to disrupt its budget monitoring activities.
The governors of Kilifi County issued a statement after their CoG meeting to report that powerful oversight panel senators have turned their powers into a system of “escalating extortion, political witch hunts, harassment, intimidation, and humiliation” against governors who must answer audit inquiries about their regional financial matters. The four lawmakers—Sifuna, Kajwang, Cherargei, and CPAC vice‑chairperson Johnes Mwaruma—were singled out as “notorious” in repeated complaints from county executives.
The Council announced that governors will stop attending CPAC and Senate control sessions until their problems receive proper resolution. One governor, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed he was publicly humiliated after refusing alleged extortion demands during a hearing.
The CoG demand requires the removal of four senators from their respective committees because the governors describe this removal as necessary to build trust and equity in senate supervision of county affairs. The governors requested that Senate leaders and CoG representatives participate in organized discussions to create new rules that would maintain order and dignity throughout auditing processes.
The Senate leaders responded to CoG demands by pushing back, while CPAC chair Kajwang defended the committee’s actions because senators fulfill their constitutional duty to investigate how county officials spend public funds. He described the boycott as a strategy that some governors used to escape accountability.
The government shutdown endangers multiple budgeting processes that organizations use to monitor decentralized expenditure because it occurs during a decisive period that will shape future national and county governance structures in Kenya before the 2027 election cycle.
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