Weekly Corruption recap.THE WEEK THAT WAS. CORRUPTION IN FULL DISPLAY.

News & Politics
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Is there any hope for Kenya or rather Africa in general? Juu news kama hizi from this past week ni kama comedy. Shithole republic. Anyway.

The Standard’s Version of the story:

Politics
[SIZE=7]How your MP was bought for a song on day of high drama[/SIZE]
By Roselyne Obala
Published: Aug 10th 2018 at 22:56, Updated: August 10th 2018 at 22:56
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/images/friday/bmjwb1pohqdwzwz7ti5b6dede477938.jpgA past session of Parliament.
SUMMARY
[ul]
[li]Angry MPs reveal how their colleagues received as little as Sh10,000 from a ‘nerve-centre’ to shoot down report[/li][li]National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi invites the EACC to probe Members of Parliament as Sh30 million said to have changed hands[/li][/ul]
Like faithful trooping to a confession box ahead of service, honorable MPs marched in droves to see three of their colleagues ahead of Friday’s debate on the sugar report.

Ahead of the 2:30pm plenary sitting, and in near-stampede, they filed past journalists to the new wing of the Parliamentary Lounge where the trio “coordinated” the rejection of the report.

In hot pursuit and to spoil the party was Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati and Nyeri County’s Rajab Mukami who stumbled on the ring-leader – an MP from the Rift who recently ran afoul with journalists – holding on to a mystery list.

ALSO READ: Court orders impounded sugar be released

Two of his colleagues – a nominated MP and another now serving his third term – held watch as members came in pairs and left. Those who left the nerve-centre rallied their clueless colleagues into dashing there to see the three men.

Diluted report

Others, all smiles, walked straight into the chamber to debate the controversial report. The activity went on unhindered until journalists confronted a Western Kenya MP who immediately and quite out of his norm brushed them aside.

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“Wait I am coming back,” the excited MP said while walking away.

Some MPs who spoke to the Saturday Standard admitted that the 38-member committee co-chaired by Aden Haji (Mandera South) and Kanini Kega (Kieni) was divided on the report tabled in the House. Thus, they wanted it rejected.

“The chairs only have six members behind them. It is better this report is rejected and a new one drafted that has the support of everybody,” said a first term MP who sought anonymity.

ALSO READ: Bribery claims as MPs rescue Rotich, Adan

“The money being dished out is to rally members to shoot down the report. The report shielded the companies and went for the Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) who declined to play ball. This is a fraud on the taxpayers to draft a diluted report.”

Another MP revealed: “I am told the money is over. I have not got my share. They are complaining that journalists are here.”

At some point, the three MPs ceased their activities and relocated to the lounge behind the reception, which is out of bounds to media. Still, other members brandished some suspicious envelopes to a section of journalists.

Disgruntled MPs accused their colleagues of receiving millions in total to alter the report and getting additional money to shoot down the same. Godfrey Odanga (Matayos) bashed his colleagues for lowering the integrity of Parliament.

“Shame, how do you get Sh20,000 yet you earn a million? This is really bad,” lashed Odanga even as two other MPs rushed by him.

ALSO READ: Corruption: Why all is not lost for our Kenya

“What is wrong with us getting our share?” another fumed back.

“Shame, shame, this is bad,” shouted back Mukami.

Investigations by Saturday Standard have placed three interest groups at the heart of activities that took place in Parliament ahead of the debate. One group targeted the house leadership. It is not known to what extent they succeeded or failed

Another group went for the movers of the motion and those members who were drafting amendments. The final group targeted the plenary membership and occasioned the frenzy of activities that was evident in the corridors and the lobbies.

Stunned by the horrible tales of MPs throwing caution to the wind, Speaker Justin Muturi was last night invoking help of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to salvage a besieged house.

And from the sidelines of a declining opposition, NASA founder and co-principal Musalia Mudavadi demanded investigation on the whole kit and caboodle of Parliament for what he described as “abetting criminal negligence and corruption.”

In one of the earliest fruits of “handshake politics”, MPs on Friday closed ranks to shoot down a committee report that sought to send a strong message on sugar barons ravaging Kenyan’s economy and health.

From anxious groups walking in and out of a temporary “nerve-centre” where the rejection of the report was coordinated to the same groups walking back elated and pulling others back, it was a day laden with intrigue and shame.

ALSO READ: Graft purge focus shifts to Milimani court deals

“I was attending the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) meeting after which I went straight to the chamber. Members have raised the matter even here at our meeting in Mombasa,” Mutur,i who was attending a meeting in Mombasa, told the Saturday Standard.

He said he was not aware of any bribes dished out before or after the debate and asked for independent investigations to nail culprits, if any. But what Muturi held back, the ANC leader blurted it out.

Shameful display

He talked of shameful display of complicity, condemned the compromised membership, bemoaned the betrayal of Kenyan’s trust and regretted the emboldening of the sugar barons through the rejection of the report.

“Unfortunately, it is an indictment of Parliament that there are claims of bribery that influenced rejection of the report. The lasting imprint is that in reality, Committees of Parliament are instruments of sanitizing sleaze. It is the reason we urgently need an all-inclusive national dialogue to look at our governance structure,” Mudavadi said.

Majority Leader Aden Duale (Garissa Township) and Minority Leader John Mbadi (Suba South) led the onslaught in ensuring the report sank and arguing that there were no grounds to hold the CSs to account over the matter.

Later, angered MPs Justus Murunga (Matungu), Ayub Savula (Lugari), Arati, Oundo Mudenyo (Funyula), Bernard Shinali (Ikolomani), Tindi Mwale (Butere), Godfrey Osotsi (nominated) and James Onyango Koyoo (Muhoroni) castigated their colleagues and called on the Director Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji to step in.

ALSO READ: Ex-Nairobi Governor Kidero arrested

“The members were compromised. What happened along the corridors of Parliament is a shame. I am not fearing anybody. It is sad that some people received as little as Sh10,000 to shoot down the report,” said Murunga.

Savula said “the rent seeking” witnessed even at the committee level when MPs became cozy with the witnesses” had killed the report. “Have we ever seen the Judge hugging the suspects?” he asked.

Koyoo said what happened in Parliament on Friday was anticipated from the very start when “lobbying was done with no iota of respect.”

For the first time in the life of the 12th parliament on Friday, the lounge and the bar were empty by 7pm on Friday. In total, Sh30 million is rumored to have played a role in the turn of events in Parliament on Friday.

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Kiss FM version of the story:

[SIZE=7]Naked bribery in the House as MPs reject sugar report[/SIZE]
Aug. 10, 2018, 6:00 am
By JAMES MBAKA @onchirimbaka and LUKE AWICH @achiaawich
https://www.the-star.co.ke/sites/default/files/styles/new_full_content/public/articles/2018/08/10/1777744.jpg?itok=r7BYSxI3Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati crossexamines Treasury CS Henry Rotich (not in picture) when he appeared before the joint committees on trade and agriculture for investigations on claims of poisonous sugar in the market, June 25, 2018. /JACK OWUOR

Bribery claims rocked Parliament yesterday as MPs ganged up to trash a committee report on sugar that had implicated Cabinet secretaries Henry Rotich [Treasury] and Adan Mohamed [EAC].
Debate was punctuated by protests and claims of bribery from across the divide as MPs closed ranks to jettison recommendations against Rotich, Adan and former Agriculture CS Willy Bett.
In the most ignoble scene yet, lawmakers were seen openly scrambling for Sh30,000 allegedly dished out to shoot down the report.
It all began ten minutes before the afternoon sitting with the suspect movement of legislators to a room in the New Wing Bar of the Senate where the ‘facilitation’ fee was quickly dished out.
The lawmakers soon formed a long queue as an MP from Rift Valley held a list allegedly containing names of beneficiaries.
It was not clear the source of the money or whom it was intended to shield from indictment.
“We cannot pass a report whose members cannot agree on anything. I am aware of some members meeting before the session to share some loot but we will shoot it down purely on our own conviction,” an MP who sought anonymity shouted to the Star as he headed towards the chambers.
Read: MPs shoot down sugar probe report for second time, defend CSs
Also read: Kega, MPs claim final sugar report was doctored
Minority leader John Mbadi made reference to the bribery claims when he shot up to oppose the amendments saying: “I don’t want to be seen to have benefited from the rumour going round in the House.”
“I had to leave the President’s event to come to the House late so that I am not seen to have eaten,” said Majority leader Aden Duale, giving credence to reports that MPs pocketed paltry amounts to sacrifice the public interest.
Had MPs adopted three sweeping amendments by Homa Bay woman representative Gladys Wanga, the President would have been compelled to step down Rotich and Adan from the Cabinet.
Wanga wanted the ‘scandalous’ report amended to hold Rotich responsible for failing to specify the quantity and quality of sugar that was to be imported during the duty-free window last year.
She also wanted Rotich to take responsibility for the excess 453,7560 metric tonnes of sugar imported during the waiver period.
“The CS should be held responsible for the over-importation of sugar. If this is not killing the sugar industry in the country, then tell me what it is,” she said.
Wanga, who was backed by frustrated MPs from the sugar-growing counties of Western and Nyanza regions, also wanted firms that imported the commodity to be punished. The proposal was rejected.
In her amendments, Wanga also sought to compel the government to sample all the sugar in the country and subject it to thorough testing for heavy metals including mercury, lead and copper.
“They should tell us if the sugar in the shelves is safe for consumption or not,” she told the House as she moved the amendments.
The day of heightened drama was also the moment that united the Majority and Minority leaders who led their troops in opposing the report they termed as vague.
Duale said the report did not answer specific questions in the minds of Kenyans, including whether the Sugar in the market contains mercury, and the names of the companies that imported.
He warned members that there were attempts by some lawmakers to use the sugar report to settle political scores and fire Cabinet secretaries without going through the impeachment procedure provided in the Constitution.
“Let us use our resources to bring a substantive motion to debate the CSs and not try to impeach them through the back door. The threshold for the impeachment of a CS is so high,” Duale said.

Rejecting the report, Duale warned against indicting Mohamed for the Kenya Bureau of Standard’s failure to conduct surveillance to make sure poisonous or illegal sugar did not get way into the country.
“Adan cannot be indicted for crimes of a corporate entity; he cannot take the bullet for a corporate entity, I oppose this report,” he said.
Related: Impeachment motions meant to intimidate state officials
Mbadi fired the same salvo, dismissing the report as lacking the requisite evidence to hold Rotich, Mohamed and Bett personally responsible.
“I have decided to sacrifice political expedience and do what is right. I have had issues with Rotich on performance but on this one I don’t find anything Rotich did which was wrong,” Mbadi said in a rare gesture of support for the government.
He said the sugar imported during the waiver period was insufficient, in the first place, to bridge the deficit, adding that the failure by the committee to invite Bett to defend himself compromised the report.
“Even if there is politics we have to play, we have to be serious because there is nothing to hold Rotich to account for. If the committee wanted Bett to be held responsible, it should have invited him to defend himself,” he added.
“What mistake did Rotich commit? I don’t see anything other than sacrificing Rotich and I oppose the report,” he concluded.
Earlier amendments by nominated MP Geoffrey Osotsi to compel the government to put an embargo on the importation of sugar, as well as audit the sugar in the market, were also rejected.
Osotsi wanted the government to conduct a thorough audit within 21 days to determine the amount of sugar imported between May-August last year, during which Kenya allowed duty-free sugar imports.
A spirited fight by Majority Whip Benjamin Washiali, to table a letter allegedly written by Bett advising Rotich against issuing an open importation window, was rejected by Speaker Justin Muturi as inadmissible.
“I am surprised that the letter from Bett is not part of the annexure in the report yet it was tabled in the committee,” said Washiali, noting that Rotich ignored Bett’s advise which occasioned the over-importation.
After the report was shot down, some MPs convened a press conference and accused their colleagues of having been paid to reject it.
Opposition MPs accused Duale of dancing to the tune of the government at the expense of the interests of sugar farmers.
“Mbadi, you are our Minority leader, not Duale’s deputy. Our people are suffering,” said Osotsi.
Muhoroni MP Onyango K’Oyoo said the country had lost an opportunity to save the sugar industry.
“The move negates Uhuru’s pillar of industrialization. Members have given this good debate a raw deal. It is a sad day for this country and most of us from the sugar growing area,” he said at the media briefing.
“There was intense lobbying and that was unfortunate. I was not among members who received the money. A number of you were in that room where bribes were dished. Report what you saw,” Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati told the press.
MPs at the conference included Ayub Savula (Lugari) and Tindi Mwale (Butere).

3

Kumi fresh

4

Ilikua ni nchi gani raiya walistorm parliament and beat the living daylights out of the legislators?

5

Argentina ama

6

hawa watu,si wako cheap sana , bribe ya 10k aise

7

We need a periodic report on how members of this parliament voted on issues , their attendance and their moral ground on issues. Then their constituents hold them accountable.

8

Hiyo ni mshahara yangu every month

9

hehe mko sure nyinyi hamgekula mkiskia kuna 30k inapatianwa hapo kando?

Na hii pesainapitishwa aje iingie bunge with all that security? Seargent at arms ako wapi ujinga kama hii ikiendelea? Shithole Shithole Shithole republic.

I wonder the likes of akina Waiguru walipatiana ngapi story iishe. Ama alikuja tu parliament nazo zikiwa kwa magunia. ‘Wewe Nicholas Gumbo usibebe gunia mzima bakishia wengine. Gawaneni na Kareke Mbiuki!’

10

Impossible! The african is the most moral and upstanding person on gods green earth. Somewhere there is a white man behind all this.

11

Venezuela that is uko kwa the late Hugo Chavez.

12

Venezuela

13

That would be a brilliant idea; shida is most of us really don’t care what the MP believes and/or does… as long as ako in the right party siku yakura anapata. Ifwe could use this to at least boot out useless clowns kwa party primaries we might get a little more seriousness in bunge.

14

This is so sick,
Some things we don’t need to go through all these steps,
Pata hako ka mhidi kapigwe risasasi kwa mkundu juu ya huo ujinga wake wa sukari na mambo iiishie apo

15

Siwes mind hio ten k

16

well said

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Niaje uweschyeth