Moses Kuria admits taking Sh100k Bribe to ‘fix’ Aden Duale
Controversial lawmaker Moses Kuria has sensationally claimed he received a Sh100,000 bribe so as to vote in Amos Kimunya as National Assembly’s Majority Leader.
The Gatundu lawmaker, in an interview with BBC, also stressed it was ‘not unusual for Kenyan lawmakers to be paid gifts and inducements’ so as to pass bills favoured by the government.
Kuria whose career in politics has been littered with controversies says the said bribe was to have Kimunya replace Garissa Township MP Aden Duale in the National Assembly.
But he failed to substantiate his remarks with credible evidence.
“It is not uncommon in Kenya for members of parliament to be paid or compensated to vote in a particular way, especially when the government has an interest in a matter,” he claimed.
He added; “When the new Majority Leader was appointed because they were not elected…we went to the majority leader’s office and received the $1,000 (about Sh100,000) gift.”
The outspoken MP when pressed to explain why he took the money yet he knew it was illegal he defended himself and said that some legislators were bribed Sh100,000 to pass a Constitution Amendment Bill, 2020.
Duale was kicked out of the lucrative majority leader post in Parliament in June of 2020 in a move linked to the fallout between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto.
“I’m not sure if the money belonged to Kenyan taxpayers, but I’ll be refunding the most recent that I can recall to the office of the leader of the majority,” he said.
When asked if he had any proof that other Members of Parliament also received bribes he responded by saying that these things don’t happen on camera. “I don’t expect them to admit it, but they do happen in the majority leader’s office.”
Kuria spoke amid reports he was, alongside his colleagues namely nominated MP Cecily Mbarire and nominated senator Millicent Omanga, set to appear before the Jubilee party disciplinary committee to begin the process of their expulsion from the ruling party.
In a meeting held at the party headquarters on Wednesday, the committee noted that the Gatundu South legislator was contravening the Political Parties Act by supporting a People’s Empowerment Party (PEP) candidate in the forthcoming Juja by-elections.
At the same time, the Gatundu MP is scheduled to appear in parliament on Thursday with fellow lawmakers Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu) and Mohamed Ali (Nyali) after being summoned for disorderly conduct.
The three were summoned, according to Speaker Justin Muturi, for dishonouring the house by claiming that members of the Assembly were bribed to vote for the Building Bridges Initiatives (BBI) Bill.
Kuria has in the past been arrested and charged with hate speech-related comments, but released without charge.
By Hillary Kimuyu
Source-https://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/
Moses Kuria admits taking Sh100k Bribe to ‘fix’ Aden Duale
