Human Rights Activist Calls for Disbandment of Senate Public Accounts Committee Over Alleged Systemic Corruption

An Eldoret-based human rights activist has strongly condemned what he terms as elaborate and systemic corruption within the Senate Public Accounts Committee (PAC), calling for its immediate disbandment and thorough investigation by relevant state agencies.

In a strongly worded statement, Kipkorir Ngetich accused the PAC, led by Senator Kajwang, of reducing its constitutional mandate to a mere public relations exercise while allegedly shielding governors and senior county officials implicated in large-scale corruption.

“The Auditor-General has consistently provided clear traces and indicators of possible high-level corruption in various county governments,” Ngetich said. “These findings warrant immediate action by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Economic Crimes Unit, and the Central Bank of Kenya’s banking fraud unit. Instead, the Public Accounts Committee appears to be sitting on reports involving millions—if not billions—of shillings suspected to have been stolen.”

Ngetich raised serious allegations of bribery, extortion, and abuse of power within the committee, alleging that so-called “advisory opinions” are being used to sanitize grave financial crimes. While acknowledging that the PAC is neither an investigative nor prosecutorial body, he questioned why the committee continues to delay or withhold reports that clearly require urgent criminal investigation.

“It is both suspicious and alarming that governors often emerge from PAC sittings smiling and confident,” he noted. “In many counties, governors and their accounting officers have accumulated massive wealth within a very short time. They are now millionaires, owning mansions and expansive estates whose acquisition cannot be traced to any legitimate banking transactions.”

According to Ngetich, much of this wealth is allegedly acquired through cash purchases, including land, construction services, engineering, plumbing, and architectural works—raising serious concerns about proceeds of crime and money laundering.

He further called for immediate investigations into the personal wealth, bank transactions, and money transfers of all members of the Public Accounts Committee, including scrutiny of their phone communications during committee sittings.

“Taxpayers’ money is being wasted to enrich a few individuals under the guise of oversight,” he said. “The committee must be compelled to make public all its reports and recommendations on cases involving governors and their accounting officers.”

Ngetich criticized the committee’s practice of granting governors time to ‘go and prepare’ missing documents that were unavailable during the Auditor-General’s audit process, describing it as a systematic sensitization and shielding of corruption.

“This practice must come to an end,” he said. “We strongly believe the committee should be disbanded and the Auditor-General empowered to forward audit reports directly to the EACC, the DCI, and the Central Bank of Kenya’s fraud unit for immediate action.”

Reflecting on the promise of devolution under the 2010 Constitution, Ngetich lamented that corruption at the county level has, in some cases, surpassed the excesses witnessed during the era of centralized governance.

“The framers of the Constitution envisioned grassroots development through devolution,” he said. “What we are witnessing today in the counties is worse than the period when all services were centralized.”

He urged the Speaker of the Senate to act decisively in the interest of Kenyans by dissolving the current composition of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee and initiating investigations into the conduct of its members.

“We cannot allow public officials to use taxpayers’ money to cover up crime,” Ngetich concluded. “Corruption is a dangerous disease that continues to destroy the lives of many Kenyans. Governors are now using non-existent projects to raise funds for re-election or for seeking other political offices, and the country cannot afford to remain silent.”