The Council of Governors (CoG) expressed concern over the conduct of certain Senate committees, citing what it described as escalating cases of extortion, political witch-hunts, harassment, intimidation, and humiliation of governors during oversight engagements.
In a resolution, the Council declared that governors will not appear before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) until their concerns are addressed through structured engagement with Senate leadership.
They further agreed to appear only once per audit cycle before the Senate Public Investments Committee (PIC) to ensure orderly and effective oversight.
“The Council has resolved that Governors will not appear before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee until these concerns are addressed,” CoG chair Ahmed Abdullahi said.
“Further, Governors will appear only once per audit cycle before the Senate Public Investments Committee to ensure orderly and effective oversight.”
The governors spoke during their ongoing annual retreat, held under the theme “Re-positioning the Council for Effective Service Delivery in Light of the Political Environment.”
The retreat provides governors with a platform to reflect, realign priorities, and strengthen the Council’s role in advancing devolution and delivering results for Kenyans.
Apart from governance issues, the retreat also focused on the worsening drought situation affecting parts of the country, particularly the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) counties.
Governors called on the national government, development partners, and other stakeholders to urgently scale up mitigation measures to prevent loss of lives, livestock, and livelihoods.
The annual retreat is seen as a key forum for governors to consolidate their strategies, address intergovernmental challenges, and reinforce collective action in response to both political and socio-economic pressures affecting county governments.
Their remarks come after Senators threatened to suspend funding for several counties after governors skipped a Senate accountability session, accusing them of negligence and evasion amid corruption concerns and a governors’ retreat in Kilifi.
Governors who were scheduled to appear before the Godfrey Osotsi-led Senate County Public Investment and Accounts Committee (CPAC/CPIC) absconded the meeting, prompting senators to threaten the suspension of county funding over what they termed negligence of duty.
The scheduled governors who were to appear on Monday, 9 February 2026, were those of Lamu, Murang'a, Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Laikipia counties.
Senator Eddy Oketch said, "We have a deadline to meet, the action of governors not coming here is the act of making our counties not receive monies to our counties because we will not have accountability."
Senator John Kinyua expressed concern over the impact on citizens, saying, "For example It's unfair to the people of Laikipia Kinyua ‘Let's look for ways to hold a governor as an individual responsible for and not letting the people of a county suffer because of an individual let us punish a governor himself and the Governor should be liable as a person.”
Senato Samson Cherargei criticised governors for failing to honour Senate summons, stating, "It looks like CPAC and CPIC are having hard times doing their work.’’
He added, “I'm aware that some governors are running away because they are having corruption scandals, and I can tell for sure that the retreat which is done by Governors is not a constitutional obligation. They have gone to retreat to eat and sleep, yet citizens are vanishing in poverty because of corruption.’’
