Sifuna, Osotsi Removed from Key Senate Oversight Committees

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi have been removed from two of the Senate’s key oversight committees following changes announced on 29 July.

Sifuna has been transferred from the County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) to the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. Osotsi has been moved from the County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee (CPISFC) to the Standing Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration. 

Their places on the oversight committees have been taken by Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo and Taita Taveta Senator Johnes Mwaruma, who will serve alongside newly nominated members Joseph Githuku and Hezena Lemaletian under the chairmanship of Senator Moses Kajwang.

The committee changes are understood to have been supported by ODM-aligned senators within the Minority coalition. The move comes amid growing differences between the party leadership and Sifuna and Osotsi, who have taken leading roles in the Linda Mwananchi movement. 

The group has criticised ODM’s current leadership, opposed cooperation with the Kenya Kwanza administration and challenged the party’s political strategy. CPAC and CPISFC are among the Senate’s most influential committees because they oversee the use of county public funds. They examine reports by the Auditor-General, question governors over financial irregularities, delayed projects and rising debts, and can recommend investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. 

The committees may also recommend that Treasury disbursements to counties be withheld where there is persistent non-compliance. The latest changes add to a series of setbacks for Sifuna within the Senate. Earlier this month, he was removed as Senate Deputy Minority Whip and replaced by Migori Senator Eddy Oketch.

His transfer from CPAC further reduces his role in parliamentary oversight by moving him to a committee with a more limited mandate. Osotsi’s reassignment also reduces his involvement in one of the Senate’s main oversight functions. 

His removal from CPISFC follows his association with the Linda Mwananchi movement, which has increasingly differed with the direction taken by the ODM leadership.