Muturi calls for probe into bribery claims in Parliament

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi. He has invited the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the rampant corruption among MPs. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The MPs who spoke against the vice, claimed that some of their colleagues were receiving as little as Sh10, 000 to reject the report.
  • Those invited will have until Wednesday afternoon to furnish the committee with the relevant information on the incident that has soiled the image of the August House.
  • Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr laughed off the decision to invite EACC and DCI, saying it amounts to a cover-up.

Embarrassed by claims of blatant bribery within its ranks, the leadership of the National Assembly has now been forced into action to save face.

Speaker Justin Muturi has instructed House Clerk Michael Sialai to write to the MPs who openly spoke against the vice to provide the required information to the Powers and Privileges Committee of the House.

“It has come to my attention that members of the National Assembly have expressed themselves … regarding the happenings in Parliament just before the debate on the sugar report,” Mr Muturi, who chairs the committee, said.

“My office and the House leadership in general takes the bribery allegations within the precincts of Parliament seriously and this must be thoroughly investigated and appropriate action taken in line with the relevant laws.”

NECESSARY ACTION

According to the law, the Privileges Committee is mandated to deal with such matters before escalating it to investigatory agencies like the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

However, in this instance, the committee will invite EACC, as provided for in the Leadership and Integrity Act, to conclusively handle the investigations with a view to taking necessary action against MPs found culpable of unethical conduct.

“We will not sit pretty as monumental allegations of corruption within the House garner credence. We will act and act decisively,” the Speaker said, affirming that no one will be spared.

On Sunday, Mr Sialai confirmed his office will start writing to the legislators from Monday.

Those invited will have until Wednesday afternoon to furnish the committee with the relevant information.

EVALUATE TESTIMONIES

The committee will then meet on Thursday morning to evaluate the testimonies “in the shortest time possible”.

Mr Sialai regretted the incident, saying it is a grave matter of national concern that should not go unpunished.

However, the Speaker is staring at yet another crisis, as a section of MPs accused him of acting to save the face of an institution that is becoming ‘notorious for graft’.

Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati, one of the outspoken MPs who has made the bribery allegations, put a damper on the summons, suggesting he may not honour it, if invited.

Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr laughed off the decision to invite EACC and DCI, saying it amounts to a cover-up. “Mr Muturi is jumping the gun to cover up for a bad report. He is the one who approved the report for tabling in the House. He is the one who presided over the chaos of a debate that it was, and he is the one who put the question,” the Senator argued.

DOCTORED ORIGINAL REPORT
Mr Arati accused the Speaker of having approved the report for debate in the face of allegations by some members of the committee that the original report had been doctored.

“The starting point should be to establish the forces that doctored the original report and the motive because that is the gist of all that has happened,” he said, while challenging the Speaker to review CCTV footage in the House as one of the ways of getting to the bottom of the issue.

Among the members to be invited is Kimilili MP Didmas Barasa, who has confessed to being approached by a female colleague who offered him Sh10,000 to reject the report.

Others are Matungu MP Justus Murunga, Matayos MP Godfrey Odanga, Butere MP Tindi Mwale, Lugari MP Ayub Savula, who have variously made the claims.