On 20 November 2018, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi moved to have the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations examine allegations that MPs were bribed to influence a vote on the report about imported contaminated sugar.
The matter centres on claims that some legislators received money to reject a report that implicated Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, EAC Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed and former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett in the importation of contraband sugar.
Muturi’s intervention followed work by the National Assembly’s powers and privileges committee, which he chairs. The committee said it could not conclusively establish what happened because the witnesses who appeared before it gave conflicting accounts.
One of the claims under scrutiny was that MPs were offered as little as Sh10,000 in what was described as a toilet bribery scheme. The committee said the evidence presented was inconsistent, and no witness produced proof that settled the issue.
At least 15 MPs were called before the committee to explain the allegations. The panel said the contradictions in the testimony made it difficult to give a clear way forward on a matter that raised concerns about the integrity of the 12 th Parliament.
Under parliamentary procedure, the privileges committee handles such complaints before any referral to investigative agencies such as the DCI and EACC. Its report will still go before the House, where MPs can adopt it or reject it.
