Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot moved the motion under Standing Orders, formalising shifts that remove key opposition figures from powerful oversight roles and install more accommodating senators. The changes, which had been brewing amid ODM internal fractures over the broad-based government arrangement, passed after brief debate.

Omogeni rose not to block the reshuffle but to draw a red line. Below is the full transcript of his contribution on the floor:

Key replacements approved:
Nairobi Sen. Edwin Sifuna replaces Sen. Beatrice Oyomo on the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. 

Sen. Beatrice Oyomo replaces Sen. Moses Kajwang’ on the Standing Committee on Energy. 

Sen. Shakila Abdalla replaces Sen. Joseph Githuku on the Standing Committee on Health. 

Sen. Moses Kajwang’ and Sen. Beatrice Oyomo replace Sen. Shakila Abdalla and Sen. Hezena Lemaletian on the Standing Committee on Information, Communication and Technology. 

Vihiga Sen. Godfrey Osotsi replaces Sen. Beth Syengo on the Standing Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration. 

Sen. Hamida Kibwana replaces Sen. Crystal Asige on the Standing Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing. 

Sen. Enoch Wambua replaces Sen. Hamida Kibwana on the Standing Committee on Trade, Industrialization and Tourism. 

Sen. Joseph Githuku and Senate Minority Leader Stewart Madzayo replace Sen. Johnes Mwaruma and Sen. Edwin Sifuna on the County Public Accounts Committee (Mwaruma had been vice-chair). 

Sen. Johnes Mwaruma and Sen. Hezena Lemaletian replace Sen. Oketch Gicheru and Sen. Godfrey Osotsi as chairperson and vice-chairperson, respectively, of the County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee.

Citing Article 124 of the Constitution and Standing Order provisions requiring genuine consultation with political parties, he insisted that “consultation with political parties means consulting the entire membership of the affected side.”

He then invoked Article 91(1)(f), which obliges parties to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. “There should not be punitive action by a political party simply because a member seeks to exercise his or her fundamental freedoms,” Omogeni said. He reminded the House that Cheruiyot himself had faced similar treatment in a previous Parliament and urged colleagues to “draw a line” and “set standards for ourselves.”

The approved changes include the transfer of Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna from the County Public Accounts Committee and the removal of Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi from the leadership of the County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee. Both men have been prominent critics of ODM’s cooperation with the Kenya Kwanza administration and active in the Linda Mwananchi pushback. Their slots and leadership positions are filled by senators viewed as more aligned with the current minority leadership under Stewart Madzayo.

Other shifts affect the Energy, ICT, Agriculture, Health, Roads, Trade and National Cohesion committees, rearranging members across the minority side.

The vote effectively cements the latest phase of a months-long realignment that has steadily reduced the influence of party dissenters on key financial-oversight panels. Omogeni’s intervention, delivered as the House prepared to rubber-stamp the list, framed the episode as more than internal housekeeping: a test of whether parties will tolerate constitutionally protected dissent or treat it as grounds for punishment.

The Senate has now formalised the new committee line-up. Whether Omogeni’s warning will restrain further purges remains to be tested on the floor  and inside party ranks.