Kidero further asked Ethuro to take action against Sonko failure to which he would not attend any other sitting called by the House committee/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 20 – Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero says he will not appear before the Public Accounts and Investments Committee (PAIC) again if Senator Mike Sonko is not punished for insulting him during a sitting last Wednesday.
Through a letter to Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro, Kidero indicated that if no action is taken against Sonko, he will move to the Supreme Court to seek an advisory opinion to challenge the parliamentary immunity given to members, in order to clear his name.
Kidero further asked Ethuro to take action against Sonko failure to which he would not attend any other sitting called by the House committee.
“The most fundamental is the question of how public officers are expected to assist the Senate in its functions if individual Senators are allowed to visit any manner of criminal act against those officials who have no recourse to law or personal protection while within the precincts of the Senate,” the Nairobi Governor stated.
“What should public officers who are summoned before the Senate Committee do when faced with a clearly conflicted Senator who has either ulterior motives but which he proceeds to prosecute under the guise of oversight?”
Governor Kidero stated that the case that was being alluded to by Sonko is currently at the High Court and the Senator had an interest in it.
“In this instance, Senator Sonko in his shouts alluded to a case involving a person known as Hawa. It is instructive that the case relating to this name is currently in the High Court as petition number 775 of 2015,” he explained.
“Senator Sonko is a party in the case and his theatrics clearly are informed by an intention to politicise an otherwise pure case of county government collection of revenue being challenged.”
The Senator had accused Kidero of grabbing property belonging to city residents.
READ: Sonko, Kidero in physical fight at Senate PAC meeting
In the meantime, the Senate Public Accounts and Investments Committee is this week expected to meet to deliberate on the altercation between Sonko and Kidero.
The watchdog committee chaired by Kisumu Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o sought guidance from the Speaker on whether they should write to the Governor to formally apologise over the incident which some Senators have said greatly embraced the Upper House.
This emerged even as Kidero threatened to sue Sonko if he does not apologise for the insults.
The two were involved in a physical confrontation that forced the committee to adjourn its sittings.
The Senate Standing Orders outline stringent measures for disorderly conduct including being banned from attending the sitting for three days or could be stopped from attending sessions for a maximum of 28 sittings.
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