MPs ask DCI to investigate sugar report bribery claims

MPs have called on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the DCI to investigate claims that lawmakers were bribed to shoot down a report on contraband sugar in August.

The National Assembly’s Powers and Privileges Committee concluded that MPs might have been bribed.

The team chaired by Speaker Justin Muturi probe the bribery claims that rocked Parliament in August.

The committee said it reviewed videos and newspaper reports about the bribery claims. The team also listened to witnesses and scrutinised evidence presented.

In their report, the team said it also reviewed the footage of National Assembly proceedings of August 9 when the report was shot down.

“The committee observes that there might have been bribery of members of the National Assembly,” the report says.

Read: Naked bribery in the House as MPs reject sugar report

The report had been prepared by joint committee of agriculture and trade co-chaired by Kieni MP Kanini Kega and Adan Haji of Mandera East.

Fifteen MPs were questioned by Muturi’s team as witnesses. The witnesses had either been adversely mentioned or made claims that bribery happened.

Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa told the committee that Wajir woman representative Fatuma Gedi had offered him a bribe within the chambers.

Gedi denied the claim, saying she had never had any interactions before with Barasa and that she had only learnt of him through the media after the MP made the allegations.

Barasa said Sirisia MP John Waluke witnessed Gedi attempting to bribe him, claims that were denied by Waluke. 

Matayos MP Geoffrey Odanga said Kuresoi South’s Joseph Tonui informed him that Sh20,000 was being given out to members to reject the report.

See also: Anti-corruption team may probe MPs bribed in sugar scam report

Kiambu woman representative Gathoni Wamuchomba said she noticed unusual movements at the members lounge and lobbies before the report was debated.

Wamuchomba said she did not see gedi bribe members but picked the bribery claims from conversations among other MPs.

Gedi said Wamuchomba’s claims were founded on vendetta arising from their contest for the position of chairperson of caucus 47 which Gedi won.

“The CCTV cameras did not cover the members’ dining lounges in the new wing and the ablution facilities where the bribery was alleged to have taken place during the period when the House was considering the Sugar Report,” the report says.

Muturi’s team concluded that some MPs may have been involved in some forms of impropriety based on submissions by witnesses. “There was therefore a possible breach of privilege and the code of conduct by some members,” the report says.

More: MPs deny claims they were bribed to kill sugar report as probe starts

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