Nairobi — Suba South Member of Parliament Caroli Omondi has challenged governors making extortion claims to submit their evidence to investigative agencies instead of raising the allegations in public.
Speaking in an interview with a local station on Thursday, April 2, 2026, Omondi said leaders have a duty to act decisively if they possess credible evidence.
He urged governors to stop making public accusations and instead pursue legal channels through agencies such as the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) or the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
"Governors cannot claim they have evidence and fail to present it anywhere. If you have proof that someone extorted you, don't make noise report it to the DCI or the EACC if they are public officers," Omondi said.
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Governors escalated their standoff with the Senate by formally identifying four senators they accuse of harassment and intimidation during oversight sessions.
Council of Governors (CoG) accused Senators Moses Kajwang, Edwin Sifuna, Samson Cherargei, and Johnes Mwaruma of extortion and intimidation during County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) hearings.
In a signed resolution submitted to the Senate Speaker, the Council of Governors (CoG) said the four legislators had been "consistently cited" in complaints over the conduct of CPAC proceedings, which county chiefs claim have been marked by political witch-hunts, extortion, and intimidation.
The Council is demanding the removal of the senators from the affected committees as a condition for restoring confidence and fairness in the oversight process.
On February 9th, Governors suspended all appearances before Senate Committees even as they demanded the reconstitution of the County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) while accusing four unnamed senators of intimidation, harassment, political witch-hunts, and extortion during committee hearings.
During a press briefing in Kilifi, Council of Governors (CoG) chairperson Ahmed Abdullahi said governors had resolved not to appear before the committee chaired by Homabay Senator Moses Kajwang until their concerns are addressed through structured engagement between the leadership of the Senate and the Council of Governors.
"The Council of Governors notes with great concern the continuous and escalating extortion, political witch-hunt, harassment, intimidation and humiliation of governors by certain senators when they appear before the Public Accounts Committee of the Senate," Abdullahi said.
He accused some senators of turning oversight hearings into hostile political theatres, alleging that governors are deliberately kept waiting for hours, subjected to intimidation and pressured through political maneuvers designed to serve personal or partisan interests rather than accountability.
Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki clarified that the standoff is not with the Senate as an institution but with what he described as the conduct of four senators sitting in the Senate Public Accounts Committee.
"We have no issue with the Senate or its committees. Our problem is with four senators in CPAC. They know themselves. These four are involved in extortion, harassment and intimidation of governors," he said.
The CoG chairperson further announced that governors would also scale back their appearances before the Senate County Public Investment Committee (CPIC), citing what he termed as excessive and repetitive summons on individual projects.
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"Governors are required to appear several times to discuss one hospital, then another hospital, one investment, then another investment. This is not sustainable," he said.
"We have therefore resolved that governors will appear only once before the County Public Investment Committee for every audit cycle."
Abdullahi raised alarm over what he described as serious procedural and ethical concerns during committee sittings, including the use of bloggers instead of official parliamentary communication channels to cover proceedings.
"How do you allow bloggers to cover Senate committee proceedings instead of the official Senate communication team? The Senate is an august House" he posed.
