Lawmakers have the mandate to oversight the government and represent constituents, a role that requires the highest level of integrity, but do they?
The honourable members were engulfed in alleged bribery schemes involving millions of shillings in betrayal of public trust and confidence.
It was claimed lawmakers were extorting money from influential figures under probe by House committees purportedly to shield them from indictment.
The Ruaraka land and contraband sugar probes rocked the two Houses of the legislature. People of interest in the probe claimed lawmakers were harassing them for money in form of bribes.
The Senate Public Accounts and Investments Committee allegedly demanded bribes from Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and Educations PS Belio Kipsang over the Sh1.5 billion Ruaraka land saga.
The money was released in January last year as payment to businessman Francis Mburu’s Whispering Palms Company for the land where two schools – Ruaraka High and Drive-In Primary stand.
A report prepared by the committee chaired by Homa Bay senator Moses Kajwang indicted top government officials for being criminally liable for the loss of public funds.
However, the report with sweeping recommendations, was rejected by senators on the floor of the House.
The senators said Kajwang and his team had gone beyond their powers and mandate in making the recommendations amid claims that money exchanged hands both at the committee level at the plenary.
Some senators claimed their colleagues were given between Sh30,000 and Sh50,000 to stay away from the House when the report came up for voting.
“I felt frustrated as adoption of the report would have shown that Parliament is an active player in the anti-graft war,” Kajwang’ said.
Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen led those who disagreed with the committee report. “The problem with this country is that in every corruption or purported corruption investigation, there is always a desire to find the big fish,” Murkomen said.
Earlier there were claims that businessman Mburu busted senators who wanted to extort from him Sh100 million to write a favourable report.
In the National Assembly, MPs found themselves in wild goose chase as they investigate themselves.
The Powers and Privileges Committee chaired by Speaker Justin Muturi failed to indict any lawmakers accused of either giving or receiving bribes to shoot down the sugar report.
Some MPs accused members of the joint parliamentary committee on Agriculture and Trade, which conducted the probe, of pocketing bribes to protect importers of contraband consignments. The committee was jointly chaired by Kieni MP Kannii Kega and his Mandera East counterpart Adan Ali.