Absentee senators ground activities as quorum woes stall Senate business

Senate operations are increasingly grinding to a halt amid rising absenteeism in both plenary and committee sittings.

The development has cast doubt on the commitment of lawmakers to their constitutional mandate.

The situation has been particularly dire on days set aside for Cabinet Secretaries to appear before the Senate for Question Time.

Instead of robust accountability sessions, proceedings are frequently disrupted by a lack of quorum or the absence of key government officials expected to respond to senators’ queries.

The twin challenges of absentee senators and non-attendance by Cabinet Secretaries have significantly undermined the effectiveness of the Senate’s oversight role.

Question Time sessions, once seen as a critical accountability tool, are steadily losing relevance as delays render responses outdated.

“When they finally appear, often months later, their responses are stale because events have already overtaken the issues,” a senator told the Star, expressing frustration with the current state of affairs.

Meetings are frequently adjourned before they even begin due to lack of quorum or failure by invited and summoned witnesses to attend.

Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, heads of state corporations and even governors have increasingly skipped appearances, frustrating senators and stalling key oversight processes.

“This trend is unacceptable. We summon officials here to answer to the people, not to play hide and seek with Parliament,” a committee chairperson said.

However, it is the persistent lack of quorum in the plenary that has drawn the most attention and criticism.

Data indicates that since February, the Senate has adjourned at least five sittings due to insufficient numbers or the absence of senators scheduled to move business.

In several instances, the House has been forced to proceed without Question Time after scheduled Cabinet Secretaries failed to show up.

Ironically, even chief whips and their deputies—whose responsibility is to marshal members to attend sittings—have occasionally been absent.

“We cannot continue blaming the Executive when we ourselves are not present to transact business. It is a collective failure,” another senator admitted.

In a bid to strengthen oversight, the Senate recently revised its Standing Orders to introduce Wednesday morning sittings specifically for Ministerial Question Time. However, the intended gains of the reform are yet to be realised due to the ongoing attendance crisis.

On Wednesday last week, Speaker Amason Kingi was forced to direct orderlies to ring the quorum bell for several minutes in an attempt to secure the minimum number of senators required to transact business.

The effort proved futile, leading to the adjournment of the House.

 “Honourable Senators, there being no quorum and having rung the Bell pursuant to Standing Order No. 40(2), the Senate stands adjourned until later today,” Kingi ruled.

On that day, Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection Alfred Mutua was present and ready to respond to questions, while his Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs counterpart Hassan Joho had sent an apology.

The pattern has been consistent. On March 4, proceedings failed to commence due to lack of quorum despite the presence of Agriculture CS Mutahi Kagwe and Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports CS Salim Mvurya, who had turned up to answer questions.

“It is disheartening to come prepared to answer questions only to find there is no House to address,” a government official familiar with the sessions said.

A similar scenario was witnessed on February 11, while on March 25, the House was adjourned due to the absence of senators designated to move business, even though three Cabinet Secretaries—Mvurya, Kagwe and Joho—had been scheduled to appear.

On April 1, the Senate again failed to raise the requisite numbers to begin proceedings, affecting appearances by Trade CS Lee Kinyanjui, Agriculture CS Kagwe and East African Community CS Beatrice Askul.

Non-attendance by Cabinet Secretaries has also compounded the crisis. On April 22, Cooperatives CS Wycliffe Oparanya failed to appear before the plenary, while earlier in March, both Oparanya and Kinyanjui skipped committee sessions. Joho also failed to attend a plenary sitting in mid-March, while the Education CS was absent on February 25.

The situation is even more acute within committees, where legislative scrutiny and oversight work is conducted in detail.

Meetings are frequently called off due to lack of quorum, while summoned officials often ignore invitations without immediate consequences.

National Treasury CS John Mbadi has faced repeated summons by the Senate Finance and Budget Committee and threats of fines of up to Sh500,000, as well as possible censure.

This is due to his failure to appear and address critical issues, including the stalled Sh30 billion rural electrification programme and delayed pensions for retired public servants.

“We cannot allow public resources and critical programmes to stall because officials refuse to appear before this House,” a member of the Finance and Budget Committee said.

Similarly, Trade CS has clashed with the Senate Committee on Trade, Industrialisation and Tourism over repeated failure to honour summons since his appointment in early 2025.

 In late March 2026, the committee formally summoned him to appear on April 2 after he skipped a session meant to brief lawmakers on the status of County Aggregated Industrial Parks.

Despite the persistent attendance challenges, the Senate is grappling with a heavy legislative backlog.

Currently, 64 Bills are pending conclusion, with 47 at the second reading stage, 16 at the Committee of the Whole and one awaiting first reading.

Additionally, 17 motions and 18 petitions are yet to be concluded, while 15 petitions are pending reports by respective committees. A further 503 statements remain pending before the House.

“The backlog is growing by the day. If this trend continues, we risk paralysing the legislative function of the Senate,” a parliamentary insider warned.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

Senate operations are increasingly paralysed by absenteeism among both senators and Cabinet Secretaries, undermining oversight and legislative work. Frequent lack of quorum has forced repeated adjournments, even when Cabinet Secretaries are present, while their absence further disrupts Question Time sessions. Committees face similar challenges, with witnesses skipping appearances. Minority Leader Stewart Madzayo downplays the crisis as global, but a growing backlog of Bills, motions and petitions signals deep inefficiency, raising concerns over the Senate’s effectiveness and accountability.