Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter and his Petroleum Counterpart John Munyes snubbed a summon by the Senate on Tuesday, September 21, 2021.
The two cabinet secretaries were scheduled to appear before the Senate, full house, to answer for the recent hike in fuel prices, however, none of them showed up.
According to reports, CS Keter stated that the sector falls under the Ministry of Petroleum and referred the matter to CS Munyes. On his part, CS Munyes sought to have the summon pushed to a later date, citing foreign travel.
The two leaders were summoned by Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka following mass outcry by members of the public regarding the hike that saw petroleum prices rise to an all time high.
The Senate was agitated by the cabinet secretaries failing to appear, especially over a matter of such national importance.
Bomet Senator Christopher Lagat castigated Munyes for failing to appear before Senate, adding that the CS is notorious for ignoring summons and has done so, on a number of occasions in the past.
The Bomet Senator told the upper house that at one time, the Petroleum CS ignored a summon and when questioned by the Energy committee as to why he ignored them, Munyes stated that he had attended a burial in his home county.
Senator Lagat proceeded to describe Munyes as a lazy public servant.
“As a member of the Energy Committee let me inform other Senators who are not members of that Committee that CS Munyes is notorious when it comes to appearing before this House and answer questions which are very sensitive.
“There’s a time we requested him to appear before the committee three times and he failed. When he appeared he was in a hurry and mentioned that he had been attending several funerals in Turkana,” Lagat stated.
“He’s a man of excuses and I tend to think h doesn’t take issues concerning Wananchi seriously. They must pay even double so that they take their work seriously.
“He appears here lazily… I doubt he would have concentrated. He is notorious,” he added.
Senators Mutula Kilonzo (Makueni) Ledama Ole Kina (Narok), Petronila Were (nominated Senator) and James Orengo (Siaya) castigated the act by the CSs and called upon parliament to impose stiff penalties.
Orengo stated that Kenyans were angered by the increase in fuel prices and are looking at parliamentarians to resolve the issue that has since stifled livelihoods.
Senator Ledama called upon parliament to hold a sitting and impeach CS Keter.
