Sifuna, Osotsi Dropped From Senate Watchdog Committees

Key points:

Senate on 29 July 2026 approved removing Sifuna from CPAC and Osotsi from CPISFC.
Both senators are linked to the Linda Mwananchi faction critical of ODM’s cooperation with Kenya Kwanza.
Sifuna was already replaced as Minority Whip two weeks earlier by Eddy Oketch.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi have been stripped of places on two of the Senate’s most powerful financial oversight panels, in a minority reshuffle that critics say is aimed at ODM rebels rather than routine committee housekeeping.

According to reporting by People Daily and Capital FM, the changes approved by the Senate on Wednesday, 29 July 2026, drop Sifuna from the County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) and reassign him to the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. Osotsi, who chaired the County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee (CPISFC), was moved to the Standing Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration.

Why these committees matter

CPAC and CPISFC sit at the centre of county money oversight. They examine Auditor-General reports, summon governors over questionable spending and pending bills, and can feed findings to investigative agencies. Membership is widely viewed as one of the most influential assignments in the Upper House.

Sifuna was replaced on CPAC by Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo, with Senator Joseph Githuku also joining the panel chaired by Homa Bay’s Moses Kajwang’. On CPISFC, Osotsi was replaced by Taita Taveta’s Johnes Mwaruma, with nominated Senator Hezena Lemaletian also added.

Political context

The reshuffle lands amid a visible split inside the Orange Democratic Movement. Sifuna and Osotsi have been associated with the Linda Mwananchi formation that has criticised ODM’s broad-based cooperation with President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration.

Barely two weeks earlier, Sifuna lost the Senate Minority Whip post to Migori Senator Eddy Oketch. A day before the latest vote, Sifuna said publicly that he expected further moves to remove him from CPAC and Osotsi from the investments chair, describing ODM leadership as “done with us.” He downplayed the Agriculture reassignment, saying he needed to learn more about fisheries and the blue economy “for the coming assignments.”

Osotsi, in earlier remarks reported by local media, called the campaign against him a “political witch-hunt” and said his committee’s oversight of county funds had been strong. Minority leadership has not publicly tied the reassignments to factional politics, framing them as internal House changes.

The episode is likely to sharpen debate over whether ODM’s cooperation with the government is tightening party discipline—or pushing dissenting senators into a more open break ahead of 2027.

Sources: People Daily, Capital FM / allAfrica, parliamentary committee records.