Leaders want truth on ‘rot in the House’

Raila Odinga - ODM leader
As things stand, there are credible indications that the rot of graft runs deep and wide across the branches of government. There is talk of committee reports that have not been brought for debate a year after they were submitted to the leadership of the House. A thorough investigation should be done and those found to be guilty of giving and receiving bribes punished.

Kalonzo Musyoka - Wiper leader

It is a very sad story in the history of our republic that individuals and State agencies would pay between Sh200,000 and Sh500,000 to have government appointees such as ministers, principal secretaries and ambassadors approved under the Jubilee administration. We have a situation where the Executive is corrupt from bottom to the top, the Judiciary is corrupt and Parliament is very corrupt.

Farah Maalim -Former Deputy Speaker (2007-2013)

Corruption has always been there in the National Assembly. During my time, I took it upon myself to fight the vice. There were situations where individuals would cut deals. There were attempts to try to influence committee reports and many of them succeeded. What is happening now is a deal gone sour. Jubilee picked a friendly PAC chairman hoping to benefit from it.

Isaac Ruto - Chairman of the Council of Governors

This is a very complicated matter. But, it is important to note that not all MPs engage in this kind of unpalatable behaviour. During our time in the 10th Parliament we used to have three notorious MPs known for such kind of things but the rest were good. It was never that pandemic like it is appearing to be at the moment. But what is also known is this thing may have been blown out of proportion.

Eric Mutua: Chairman, Law Society of Kenya

I think we now have a crisis in the country. Parliament is supposed to be undertaking an oversight role, including curbing corruption. The Ethics and anti-Corruption Commission is facing a similar crisis and we really don’t know whether to start fighting graft or bad governance. The solution is to wait for elections and see whether there can be any means to bring in people with integrity.

Jacqueline Mugo: CEO of the Federation of Kenya Employers

The allegations made in the committee have not yet been proven but the key thing now is the image of Parliament. They are the watchdog but who watches the watchdog? It goes back to the commitment to ethics and assurance that they will abide by that. They will have a lot of image-cleaning to do as a way of showing that they are committed to integrity.

Samuel Kimeu: Executive Director, Transparency International Kenya

What needs to happen is the building of a sort of ‘integrity management system’ to control the behaviour and have sanctions. These can  be simple tools like signing-in sheets so that one can cross-check to ensure no one has signed, say, to attend two committees that are happening concurrently. It can also address mileage claims and whether they have been utilised well.

Canon Peter Karanja: NCCK General-Secretary

Kenyans have had great reservations in the way our parliamentarians have conducted themselves. The revelations of corruption within the Parliamentary Accounts Committee is just a confirmation of the rot in the House. The Powers and Privileges Committee should expedite the investigation and give a report and this should be seen as an indictment of the whole House.

Adan Wachu: Secretary-General Supkem

This is not the first time auditors have done reports and forwarded them to PAC only to be doctored. These are norms of our Parliament and PAC is now a rotten institution. We do not even know whether PAC was investigating Sh8.9 billion as had been initially stated or Sh2.3 billion. This is an abuse of Chapter 6 (of the Constitution) and we are mesmerised that our MPS can be easily bribed.