OPINION: Senators crossed the line with manhandling of Governor Lati

April 1st is normally April Fools’ Day, a day dedicated to playing practical jokes, hoaxes and pranks on friends, family and colleagues.

Yet, this year, at the Senate of Kenya, a serious ‘joke’ was happening.

Senate Speaker Amason Kingi gave a directive to the Sergeant at Arms to present Samburu governor Jonathan Lelelit Lati to the nearest police station for skipping the House summons.

Governor Lati had arrived at the Parliament buildings on the particular day following warrants issued against him. The Senate members who were in a session learned of his presence within Senate precincts.

Lati was addressing the media within parliament when a section of senators, accompanied by the sergeant at arms, ambushed him from the back.

It was at this point that drama ensued, as the governor’s security team protected him from the manhandling by senators, which ended violently.

Lati was whisked into his car and sped off from the scene, with everything captured on camera and broadcast across various media.

The governor would later appear in a city hotel, where he claimed to have been assaulted and threatened to sue the senators.

The incident is the latest in the never-ending feud between the Senate and the Council of Governors (CoG).

The House of all county representatives has been on a roll, summoning governors to answer accountability questions on revenue expenditure in the counties, and the questions raised by the Auditor General.

However, the governors have defended themselves through CoG and individually, alleging corruption and extortion by the senators through the summons.

The governors have vowed not to honour the summons on allegations that they are being forced to part with millions of money to get favourable reviews by the senate.

This is not the first time parliament has been accused of corruption. In August last year, President William Ruto, while speaking at the 9th Devolution Conference in Homa Bay county, said MPs, through different Parliamentary committees, demand to be bribed to give counties and the national government a clean bill of health.

“It cannot continue to be business as usual. It’s not possible that committees of parliament demand to be bribed, demand to be paid for them to write reports, or to look the other way for what is happening for either the national government or the county governments,” Ruto said.

The president went on to demand accountability, but eight months later, more bribery and extortion allegations against Parliament continue to surface, with little or no action being taken.

This begs the question of why relevant authorities like the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have not initiated investigations into the alleged bribery and corruption in parliament?

When do they plan to investigate the concerns that have been raised by even the head of state?

Governor Lati was summoned to appear before two Senate committees on the same day, which were running concurrently. In the summon letters, CPAC required Lati to appear before it on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at 10 am.

In another letter, the County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee required the governor to appear before it on the same day, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at 11 am. This raises the question of whether this was a lack of planning on the part of the Senate or just a planned setup for the governor. 

Lati, in an interview with local media, said it was not a mere administrative oversight.

“If I had two signatures in those letters, I could understand that maybe there is an oversight inviting me to those committees. They were signed by one human being, one source and one person. So when I didn’t attend CPAC that is the basis for this warrant of arrest.”

Lati said out of 29 governors who have been invited to the committees and have not turned up, only he and one other have warrants of arrest hanging on them.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna was one of the senators who manhandled Lati at Parliament.

Sifuna has defended the actions of the senators, saying they were effecting citizen arrest, which he argues is guaranteed in the laws of the land.

“As honorable members we asked him to walk with us into parliament so that he can be taken where you had ordered him to be taken. One of his goons grabbed me by my coat… and were it not for Senator Eddy (Oketch), I think I would have found myself in a very difficult situation,” Sifuna said in the senate after the altercation. 

However, this raises serious questions about whether the senators violated the Leadership and Integrity Act.

Among others, the Act provides that “a State officer shall not violate the rights and fundamental freedoms of any person unless otherwise expressly provided for in the law and in accordance with Article 24 of the Constitution”, and that “a state officer shall not bully any person”.

By ambushing Lati at the time when the sergeant at arms was already asking the governor to follow his directives, the senators, whose role is to oversee the counties, publicly humiliated the governor, overstepped their mandate and exposed him to political violence.

One would also ask, what would have transpired had the armed bodyguards for both the senators and the governor drawn their weapons in the melee?

The country fell short of witnessing a shootout outside parliament gates as the altercation almost turned physical and confrontational.

What was captured on the media was the eight senators visiting the governor, who says he had gone to see the clerk of the senate regarding the two concurrent summons.

“I’m ready to face Sifuna, and the rest. Three of you, I don’t even need one, three of you, outside the Senate. Look for me away from the Senate. Let’s not put a bad name on our Senate, that one I’ll not allow. Today, what we did is unforgivable,” Lati said afterwards.

“The Senate of Kenya is a sacred place; it’s for mature people. It’s for people who represent the Republic of Kenya, people who have the goodwill of the people. It’s not a place to fight,” he added.

Law enforcement authorities must nip political violence in the bud.

While Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi was manhandled by goons at a commercial facility, Lati was exposed to political violence by elected officials.

The writer, Okenye Ong'ombe, is a devolution analyst and social commentator.