President William Ruto has accused some Members of Parliament of accepting bribes in exchange for voting against the recently enacted anti-money laundering law.
Speaking at a meeting of the joint parliamentary group with ODM and UDA legislators on Monday 18 August, Ruto said he was aware of corruption within parliamentary committees.
‘There are legitimate concerns about how resources are being spent at county level, and we cannot ignore them. In my current position, I receive raw intelligence reports. I know what’s going on,” he said.
The president claimed that some MPs had been paid millions of shillings to frustrate critical legislation.
“Do you know, for example, that a few members of your committee were paid 10 million shillings not to pass the anti-money laundering law? Did you receive the money?” he asked.
Ruto also raised questions on how some county officials access large sums of cash.
“Where does somebody find Sh150 million? Is that his money? That is money that belongs to the county,” he noted.
He warned that corruption was eroding the credibility of Parliament and undermining public trust.
The President said that there are a few people within parliament who are using this spoil the name of parliament.
“There are people who are destroying the credibility of Parliament, and they are collecting money in the name of Parliament, and most of the time that money never gets to Parliament, it gets to a few people,” he said.
Ruto vowed that going forward, it will not only be about shaming them, but anyone implicated in bribery scandals would be arrested.
“We are not going to shame them. We are going to arrest them. Both the givers and receivers must be dealt with,” he stated.
