KIKUYU MP Lewis Nguyai denied yesterday that he had distributed money to some MPs to save Central Bank of Kenya Governor Professor Njuguna Ndung'u. A parliamentary Committee investigated why the shilling declined last year and recommended the removal through of Ndung'u for incompetence. Parliament debated the report on Wednesday evening and expunged the name Professor Ndung'u after heated debate on the floor of the house.
Several MPs told the Star that a Central Kenya MP had distributed cash to MPs in a bid to secure their support in defeating the report which was later adopted by the house. "This allegations are preposterous to say the least. I only lobbied for the deletion of of Ndung'u name from the report but even before I started the lobbying there were people who were employing underhand tactics to threaten me. They claimed that i had received some money to bribe some MPs. All these claims are meant to tarnish my name. They are malicious and mere propaganda," said Nguyai yesterday.
Yesterday the Star spoke to four MPs who confirmed receiving payments to support the removal of Ndung'u's name. One MP from Kisii told the Star that he was asked to pick his report at a whip’s offices last week and when he went he was given an envelope containing cash. He was later informed that the money was a small lunch to help water down the report by Finance committee chaired by Aden Keynan. “I have always heard claims that MPs are bribed to vote in a certain way but never believed it until it happened to me," the MP told the Star. Another MP, who claims to have received Sh20,000 to oppose the report, said he was aware that several colleagues had also received cash to vote "favourably".
However Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo termed the allegations as rumours being spread by those who lost in the vote. "Every time people lose on the floor of the house, they start shouting out there that MPs have been compromised," Kilonzo said. The Yatta MP defended MPs who voted to amend the committee's report saying as far as he was concerned no money exchanged hands. In May 2011 the Nation published a story alleging that corruption had become the order of the day in Parliament.
According to the story, based on multiple interviews with sitting and former House members, wealthy and influential politicians offered handouts to MPs to vote in their favour when they came under political scrutiny. “There should be thorough investigations into the conduct of some MPs. Their body language consistently speaks volumes when they vote for or against certain sensitive issues,” Parliamentary Agriculture committee chairman John Mututho told the Nation. “The Speaker should do something about it,” he said the day after MPs threw out his committee's report on the maize scandal saying it was politically engineered and clumsy. Some MPs allegedly can raise questions in Parliament for cash.
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