Leaders from West Pokot county have called on the senate to remove senators who have shown interest in vying for the gubernatorial seats from the oversight committees.
A number of senators intend to unseat their governors in the 2017 elections with about twenty senators in the country having expressed interest for the gubernatorial seat.
The leaders insist that the said senators should not be allowed to sit in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Public Investment committee(PIC).
West Pokot Governor Simon Kachapin and Kapenguria member of parliament Samuel Moroto said that some senators are self-seekers more concerned with unseating governors at the expense of performing their oversight role in the Senate.
The leaders have called on the senate speaker and the clerk to remove those senators from the committees especially those doing oversight on governors urging that they are using those positions to gain political mileage.
“We believe that senators wont exercise their oversight role effectively if they have interest in the gubernatorial seats.” said Kachapin.
He said the committees should be independent hence asked senators to stop engaging in early campaigns but instead focus on fulfilling their constitutional mandates.
The county boss said senators have failed in ensuring that counties get more funds for development and are now engaging in early campaigns that are not helping Kenyans.
Kachapin gave an example of West Pokot County where the county gets 4 billion compared to its neighbours who get more that 11 billion and yet all the counties have same challenges.
Moroto observed that by expressing their desire to dethrone governors, the senators will not probably deliver on their oversight role where they keep the governors on toes.
The legislator said that there is a conflict of interest between senators and governors where the senators, who are supposed to represent and safeguard the interests of counties, end up having interests to be leaders of these counties.
He pointed out that senators have an important role to play as watch dogs by over sighting county activities.
Among the senators who have expressed their interest in the gubernatorial seats include Anyang Nyong’o (Kisumu), Hassan Omar (Mombasa), Chris Obure (Kisii), Boni Khalwale (Kakamega), Mike Mbuvi Sonko (Nairobi), Hassan Omar (Mombasa), James Orengo (Siaya), Kembi Gitura (Muranga), Kiraitu Murungi (Meru) and John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot)