Oparanya to face off with Senate in court

Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya will on Monday appear in court over his alleged failure to honor summons to appear before the senate to answer audit queries.

The governor has however denied ignoring any summons from the senate claiming the invitation was for the county, which has its accounting officers who is obviously not the governor.

He has since presented himself to the CID following arrest orders from the director of public prosecutions Keriako Tobiko.

The Kakamega governor is set for a fierce battle with the senate in courts, over his alleged refusal to honour summons to appear before the senate public accounts committee for accountability.

Oparanya will appear in court on Monday, to defend himself from the allegations by the Senate speaker Ekwee Ethuro who made the complaint to the director of public prosecution.

The complaint against the governor is in line with the law, which stipulates that a committee of parliament is an equivalent of a High Court, which has powers to summon anyone to appear and provide information on a matter under investigation.

But Oparanya has denied defying any order to appear before the senate.

“I am not the accounting officer of the county as stipulated in the public finance management act  and therefore any summons directed to the county do not refer to me as a person but rather the county government of Kakamega which is a different entity as an institution,” defended Oparanya.

Oparanya maintains that issues to do with accounts in county governments are a responsibility of the county assemblies and not the senate unless the matter is referred to the senate by the county assembly.

He blames his woes on Kakamega senator Bonni Khalwale claiming the senator wants to bring him down, since he is eyeing the governorship position in 2017.

The council of governors on Friday defended Oparanya, reaffirming his position that governors are not the accounting officers in counties.

The council of governors now want the senate to rethink its position over Oparanya’s court case.

If found guilty, Oparanya risks harsh punitive measures which may include loosing his seat