Samburu County Governor Jonathan Lati Lelelit in a heated exchange with senators outside Parliament buildings in Nairobi on April 1, 2026. A group of senators confronted the governor as he addressed the media.
Samburu County Government’s failure to account for more than Sh566 million has sparked a major standoff between Governor Lati Lelelit and the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC).
Governor Lelelit is required to answer questions before the Senate committee about alleged losses during the 2023/2024 financial year.
Officials from the Office of the Auditor-General recently told the committee that Samburu County had not responded to audit recommendations for both the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 financial years, even after the reports were formally submitted and tabled in Parliament.
On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, Governor Lelelit was involved in a confrontation with Senators mainly from the committee outside Parliament over what they termed his persistent refusal to appear before the committee for questioning.
Samburu Governor Jonathan Lelelit addressing the media outside Parliament buildings in Nairobi on April 1, 2026, after reportedly meeting Senate leadership in a bid to avert possible arrest over his failure to appear before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee regarding audit queries.
The Senators claim that the governor has repeatedly ignored summons to account for billions of shillings allocated to Samburu County during the 2023/24 financial year.
"Despite several summons by CPAC, the governor has refused to appear before the committee to explain the questionable expenditures. This prompted the committee to fine him Sh500,000 and order him to appear on December 4, 2025 but he didn't," revealed Senator Moses Kajwang, the committee chairperson.
The Council of Governors, through Chairman Ahmed Abdullahi, condemned the alleged “assault” of Governor Lelelit during the confrontation and demanded action.
However, the Nation has established that the governor is required to answer questions on multiple issues, including the use of 25 illegal bank accounts, irregular recruitment and payment of staff and payment of salaries to 350 employees outside the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) system, which led to losses of millions of shillings.
According to the auditor-general’s report for the year ending June 30, 2024, Governor Lelelit’s administration operated 25 bank accounts in various commercial banks illegally, holding a total of Sh142.4 million.
"The county government was unable to explain the purpose of the accounts, dates when they were opened, approval status, or the signatories," states part of the report.
The county also faces scrutiny over irregular staff recruitment. Twenty-nine employees were hired under the “Governor’s Delivery Unit” without approval from the County Public Service Board (CPSB). No records of advertisements, applications, interviews or selection processes were provided for audit. These employees were paid Sh60 million.
"This is contrary to Section 68 of the County Governments Act 2012, which requires the CPSB to maintain records of all applications received," the report notes.
Ghost workers
Governor Lelelit also created the office of the Governor’s Delivery Unit and recruited staff without CPSB authority. At the time, the board’s term had expired.
Further, the county paid Sh319.65 million in salaries outside the IPPD system to the 350 officers, contrary to National Treasury rules. There are concerns that some payments may have gone to ghost workers.
During the 2023/2024 financial year, the county is also accused of irregularly engaging casual workers who were paid Sh36.4 million, again without CPSB oversight or muster rolls to confirm work attendance.
Additionally, Sh6.6 million was irregularly paid as annual subscriptions to the Council of Governors (Sh3 million) and the Frontier Counties Development Council (Sh3.6 million). The county also spent Sh1.1 million on laptops and mobile phones without providing lists of beneficiaries and implemented water projects irregularly.
After the governor repeatedly failed to honor summons, the committee wrote to Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja on December 9, 2025, directing him to locate, arrest and produce the governor before CPAC on December 18.
The IG later informed the committee that he was unable to locate the governor.
The committee instructed the IG to investigate further and produce the governor on January 26, 2026. Again, the IG neither responded nor produced the governor.
Governor Lelelit later explained in a letter that he could not attend due to a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) National Governing Council meeting at State House Nairobi, chaired by President William Ruto.
On Monday, January 26, he again failed to appear before CPA, attending the UDA NGC meeting instead. This sparked outrage in the committee which accused the IG of shielding the governor and turning constitutional oversight into a “hide-and-seek” game.
Senators summoned IG Douglas Kanja over what they described as contempt of Parliament.
Inspector General of the National Police Service Douglas Kanja before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee at Bunge Tower, Nairobi on February 12, 2026.
“We had earlier in December asked the IG to arrest Governor Lelelit, but he is yet to do so. The IG is undermining the authority of Parliament,” said Senator Kajwang.
Last month, the IG issued a warrant of arrest against Governor Lelelit after another failure to appear. On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, the governor was roughed up while addressing journalists outside Parliament, deepening tensions between Governors and Senators.
Some Senators have floated the idea of invoking constitutional provisions to block funds to counties persistently in breach, warning that oversight without enforcement has turned Parliament into a debating club.
“If we cannot discuss how money is spent, then we have no business sending more funds there,” said Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna in Parliament.
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