Members of Parliament are under fire after claims that they received bribes to reject a report by a joint House Committee on illegal sugar probe that incriminated senior government officials.
This has prompted National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi to invite the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate the matter.
Some MPs are alleged to have received kickbacks of between Sh10,000 and Sh30,000 to shoot down the sugar report prepared jointly by Trade and Agriculture Committees.
A section of MPs admitted that money changed hands before the report that allegedly found Cabinet Secretaries Adan Mohamed and Henry Rotich culpable in the illegal sugar scandal.
“I have instructed the Clerk of the National Assembly to immediately write to the members who have been quoted in sections of the media citing incidences of bribery within the precincts of parliament; inviting them to share their testimonies or any information that they may have with the Powers and Privileges Committee,” said Speaker Muturi.
“The Powers and Privileges Committee will upon evaluation of the testimonies may consider inviting the competent investigatory agencies, in particular the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) as provided for in the Leadership and Integrity Act to conclusively handle the investigations with the view to taking necessary action against any member found culpable of this grossly unethical conduct,” he added.
It emerged that hours before the report was tabled on the floor of the house for debate, some MPs had already been compromised to reject it.
“I am saying there was that circulation of money, you can see and sense what was going on,” said Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri.
“You wonder how someone who doesn’t even know how cane looks like is making decisions for sugar farmers, someone who has never planted cabbage at the back of his house is now deciding on sugar cane farming,” Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali.
In a statement on Sunday, opposition leader Raila Odinga termed claims of bribery at Parliament as a big shame to the country.
“The public currently feels cheated by Parliament, which has become the weakest link in this war, with reports of money changing hands for adoption or rejection of reports. This is a major shame to the nation and deserves urgent and thorough investigation by multi-agency team from the EACC, DPP and DCI,” said Odinga.
Jameni! Jameni! Jameni! …
Jameni! Jameni! Jameni! Ufisadi utamalizika lini ikiwa watu wale ambao wamechaguliwa na umma ndio kutukinga ndio wanaouwakilisha?
Someone needs to hit the…
Someone needs to hit the recall button that is if one exists on these thugs. In addition, Kamiti should be expanded or better yet moved to somewhere between Marsabit and Turkana. There is a lot of bare land there and moving these corrupt thugs there you would not need to provide blankets cos it is freaking hot.
With fight on corruption…
With fight on corruption heating up, this is a slap in the face by these law makers.With what they make!And still greedy…shame,shame.iguess they dont know what shame is.No excuse undermining efforts to kill corruption from people who should be upholding the law.
Yes lock them up.