National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u has appealed to the Senate to revoke a Sh500,000 penalty imposed on him a by House committee.
In a letter to the Clerk, J.M Nyegenye, the CS asked the Senate to revoke the decision made by the committee on June 29, 2023, pursuant to Section 19(1) of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act, 2017.
Ndung’u was required to pay the fine on or before July 12, 2023.
The same letter also required the CS to appear before the committee in person to apprise it of the petition concerning claims by teachers who retired between 1997 and 2007 and to provide relevant documentation.
He noted that following the summon dated June 2, 2023, to appear before the committee to respond to the petition, he wrote a letter Ref: No TNT/CONF 268/014’J’ (38) dated June 16, 2023, to the clerk and copied to the chair of the committee communicating his engagement on other official duties outside the country on the very day.
The CS said he requested the committee to reschedule the said meeting to July 5, 2023.
“In addition, we wrote a letter dated May 29, 2023, seeking your indulgence to request your committee to allow the National Treasury finalise engagements associated with the Budget 2023-24 and endeavoured to continue fully the other committees’ engagement after the end of the Budget cycle,” he said.
The CS angered members of the committee for failing to honour several summonses.
The Senate Committee of Education on May 30, 2023, noted that for the fourth time, Ndung’u had failed to avail himself to answer questions about the disbursement of Sh16.8 billion meant for retired teachers.
