NAIROBI, Kenya, May 27 – Nominated Senators Millicent Omanga and Victor Prengei have refuted accusations of being disloyal to the ruling Jubilee Party when they appeared before the Party’s Disciplinary Committee on Wednesday.
The two Senators alongside Falhada Iman, Naomi Waqo and Mary Seneta are facing gross misconduct charges after they snubbed a Senate Parliamentary Group convened by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Omanga attributed her failure to attend the meeting held at State House, Nairobi on May 11 to her inability to get any communication inviting her to the said event.
“I did not get the message, and even right now I have tried to the search for that message in my inbox but I have to admit it is impossible to get all these messages. When I realised I did not receive the message, I informed the Chief Whip,” she went on to explained.
Omanga pledged her loyalty to the party, citing that her prompt membership fee remittance as a sign of this.
“I have subscribed to the party, since 2017, I have paid over 600,000 shillings. I would not pay if I am not loyal.”
“During the recent vote on the removal of the Deputy Speaker Kithure Kindiki, I voted with party because the position was communicated and even though he is a personal friend, I obeyed, because I am loyal to the Party, when to the point when I am asked to jump, I just jump, while on air, I ask how high,” she told the Committee chaired by lawyer Lumatete Muchai.
The vocal Senator was taken to task over her recent remarks which went viral on social media in which she appeared to be daring unnamed persons to ‘bring it on.’
“I was defending our party against perpetrators; that is people who don’t support our party. They are all over on social media. I was just responding to media and social media. It was a social media thing,” she said while denying the remarks were targeted at the party leadership.
Prengei on his part said he has never gone against the Jubilee Party’s code of conduct terming the allegation of being disloyal as invalid.
The Nominated Senator from the Ogiek, a Minority Community, said he did not attend the meeting because he was in the village in East Mau which is served by very poor telephony network and road connectivity.
He said he did receive a text message inviting him to the meeting because his mobile phone was off because he uses solar and could not recharge because of the rainy season.
The Disciplinary Committee retreated after concluding the two-day hearings and is expected to submit its findings and recommendations to the Party’s Secretariat within 14 days.
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