Senate summons IG Kanja over failure to arrest Samburu governor
A Senate committee has summoned Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja after he failed to arrest and produce Samburu Governor Lati Lelelit.
A Senate committee has summoned Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja after he failed to arrest and produce Samburu Governor Lati Lelelit.
The County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) is seeking the governor for contempt.
Committee chairperson Senator Moses Kajwang’ accused Kanja of ignoring lawful directives from the Senate.
“The Inspector General of Police should appear before this committee within the next seven days to explain why he is unwilling to implement the resolutions of Parliament,” Kajwang’ said while issuing the summons.
Kajwang’ added that the police must understand that they do not operate under a different constitutional order.
“This committee will not tolerate contempt of Parliament by the IG or his failure to facilitate the work of Parliament,” he stated.
Lelelit has repeatedly ignored summonses to appear before CPAC to account for billions of shillings allocated to Samburu county during the 2023-24 financial year. This led the committee to fine him Sh500,000 and order his appearance on December 4 last year.
After the governor failed to honour the summons, CPAC wrote to the Inspector General on December 9, directing him to locate, arrest and present the governor before the committee on December 18.
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However, in a letter dated December 18, the inspector general informed the committee that he had been unable to establish the governor’s whereabouts and could not effect the arrest.
Undeterred, the committee instructed the police chief to investigate the governor’s location and ensure his appearance before CPAC on January 26.
The IG, however, neither responded to the directive nor produced the governor as instructed.
In a subsequent letter, Lelelit said he could not attend the committee meeting because he was scheduled to attend the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) National Governing Council meeting at State House, Nairobi, chaired by President William Ruto.
Samburu Senator Steven Lelegwe, a committee member, confirmed seeing the governor at State House during the meeting.
“The governor is giving excuses because he is not ready to appear before this committee. In fact, he does not want to appear,” Lelegwe said.
Kajwang’ dismissed the explanations provided by both the Inspector General and the governor, stating that the letters could not absolve the governor of contempt proceedings.
Members of CPAC also accused the IG of undermining the oath of his office by failing to facilitate Parliament in executing its oversight mandate.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna said the police chief’s inaction had weakened parliamentary oversight.
“We should summon him and deal with this firmly. This is pure contempt,” he said.
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