Senator Wakil Hillary Sigei has called for closer coordination between the Senate and county assemblies to strengthen oversight and improve service delivery, warning that weak follow-through on audit findings continues to undermine devolution.

Speaking as a panelist at the Legislative Summit, held at the Sapphire Hotel in Mombasa, on “Strengthening Legislative Oversight to Enhance Service Delivery: Counting More Than Money,” Sigei said oversight must move beyond procedure and focus on real outcomes for citizens. He emphasized that both levels of legislatures share a common goal of ensuring public resources translate into tangible services.

“The Senate provides secondary oversight, while county assemblies exercise primary oversight. These roles must work together if we are to achieve meaningful accountability,” he said.

Sigei pointed to recurring Auditor General reports as clear evidence of systemic failure, noting that projects are often budgeted for over multiple financial years without implementation. “It is not the questions that embarrass leaders. It is the report,” he said, adding that repeated audit queries expose gaps in execution and accountability.

He identified weak capacity at county assemblies as a major challenge, citing cases where members are either unaware of audit reports or fail to act on their findings. This, he said, creates a cycle where the same issues reappear year after year, limiting the effectiveness of both county and Senate oversight.

The senator also raised concern over the growing perception of oversight as political. He noted that some county executives interpret scrutiny as a “witch hunt,” which discourages cooperation and delays implementation of recommendations.

Beyond capacity and perception, Sigei highlighted poor coordination between Senate committees and their county assembly counterparts. He noted that committees often operate in isolation, making it difficult to cascade and synchronize recommendations across levels of government.

He further pointed to institutional and financial constraints, including delays by agencies such as ethics bodies and county public service boards, as well as limited resources to implement recommendations like staffing critical sectors.

To address these challenges, Sigei called for targeted capacity-building for MCAs, stronger inter-institutional collaboration, and structured mechanisms to align oversight processes. He stressed that accountability must be practical and sustained, not episodic.

“Ultimately, oversight is about service delivery. If we do not close the gaps between audit findings and implementation, then we are failing the people we represent,” he said.