Moses Kuria Alleges Uhuru’s Govt Paid MPs KSh 100k Each to Oust Aden Duale as Majority Leader

• Former CS Moses Kuria weighed in on corruption debates in parliament while responding to MPs' take on President William Ruto's graft allegations
• He recounted a past incident in parliament, highlighting how payments were allegedly given to influence leadership changes within the House
• He also explained how it was possible to execute the payment plans after members honoured the agreed assignment

Nancy Odindo, a TUKO.co.ke journalist, has over four years of experience covering Kenyan politics, news, and features for digital and print media.

Nairobi: Moses Kuria, former senior economic advisor to the executive and ex-Cabinet secretary, has weighed in on ongoing corruption debates dominating discussions in Kenya.

The remarks come amid President William Ruto’s recent allegations that some Members of Parliament have been bribed to influence key decisions.

The claims have sparked strong reactions, with MPs and senators calling for clarity and condemning the president's generalisation of the whole House.

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While some lawmakers acknowledge that corruption exists in parliament, others have rejected such assertions.

What did Moses Kuria say about parliamentary bribery?

Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday, August 19, Kuria, who also served as MP for Gatundu South, said bribery in parliament is not a new phenomenon and is bound to happen.

He recounted a personal experience from the 12th parliament involving the removal of Aden Duale as majority leader, who then served as the Garissa Township MP.

“There are always allegations, and the line between lobbying and what is unacceptable is often blurred,” Kuria said. “During the 12th parliament, the retired president Uhuru Kenyatta's regime gave us some money to remove Aden Duale and appoint Amos Kimunya (then MP for Kipipiri)," he said.

How much were MPs paid to oust Duale?

He added that he waved the cash on the floor of the House and offered to return it, an incident he asserted was recorded in the Parliamentary Hansard.

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"It is on Hansard that I waved the money I was given. So you cannot say it doesn’t happen; it happens. We were given KSh 100,000 per person. I went to the floor of the House and offered to return it. There was no follow-up from the speaker’s office because we were all carried by the nonsense that we all belonged to Jubilee Party," he asserted.

Kuria revealed that the money was distributed through the office of the then majority leader, with Duale’s secretary handing out payments after the 'successful job' was completed.

The decision to remove Duale from the office came during a Jubilee Parliamentary Group meeting, which was chaired by Uhuru at the KICC.

Meanwhile, some MPs in the past had also openly admitted to receiving bribes to influence decisions on bills or the impeachment of certain leaders, often in substantial amounts.

Source: TUKO.co.ke