Ministers who are facing charges

• Charges against them include corruption, theft, irregular acquisition of public land, and incitement.
• LSK chairman: MPs facing charges ought to step aside and the cases be concluded speedily
• Most of the MPs contacted by the Nation on refused to comment, saying to do so might be contempt of court.

Mr Ruto is facing allegations of corruption. The Eldoret North MP and seven companies are facing a charge of obtaining by pretence. It is alleged the minister and the companies obtained money from Kenya Pipeline Company under pretence that they were in position to sell a piece of land to the company.

But the minister never took plea as his lawyers raised constitutional issues saying the charge violated his rights.

The case could not go on at the magistrate’s court because of the pending constitutional case.

A three-judge bench comprising of Mr Justice Joseph Nyamu, Lady Justice Roselyne Wendoh and Mr Justice George Dulu was appointed to handle the matter.

However, it could not still proceed as Justice Nyamu disqualified himself, so the case was referred to Chief Justice Evan Gicheru to set up another bench.

Embakasi MP Ferdinard Waititu is facing corruption charges. He was taken to court in relation to a garbage collection tender awarded to his company by the Nairobi City Council.

Mr Waititu, a former Nairobi deputy mayor, has been charged with attempting to bribe a commission’s investigator.

He is facing three counts of making an offer of Sh230,000 to Mr Fred Lolkurum. The money was allegedly offered on three different occasions and through a third party in amounts of Sh100,000, Sh80,000 and Sh50,000. The case was filed in July last year and the MP is out on Sh500,000 cash bail.
Newly elected Kamukunji MP Simon Mbugua is accused of stealing Sh1.1 million. Mr Mbugua was also accused of obtaining Sh1.4 million through pretence and issuing two bad cheques.

Pretending

He allegedly obtained Sh700,000 from Mr Patrick Thuo and Sh750, 000 from Mr Benson Nyangau by pretending that the motor vehicles he was offering for sale were registered with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and issued them with log books.

It is also alleged that he issued two bad cheques to Mr Munsukh Kholsa and Mr Harpreet Singh while knowing that his account held at the NIC Bank had insufficient funds.

Mr  Mbugua, who has not been sworn in as a MP, denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Cecilia Gathua. He was released on a cash bail of Sh300, 000.

A car dealer, Mr Mbugua first appeared in court on August 15 and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Earlier, a warrant for his arrest had been issued on August 1, following his failure to appear in court.

Baringo Central MP Sammy Mwaita is also in court in connection with illegal allocation of public land. The MP is said to have allocated a plot belonging to the Department of Survey in Nakuru to his brother, Mr Hillary Kipkorir. Mr Mwaita is a former Commissioner of Lands.

The Government had put up staff houses on the land in question while part of it included a parking yard and storage space for equipment belonging to the department.