NAIROBI, Kenya – President William Ruto has accused some Members of Parliament of taking bribes to oppose the recently enacted anti-money laundering law.
Speaking on Monday, August 18, during a joint parliamentary group meeting that brought together UDA and ODM legislators, Ruto claimed he was aware of corruption within parliamentary committees, including instances where MPs allegedly pocketed millions of shillings to frustrate critical legislation.
“Do you, for example, know that a few members of your committee collected Sh10 million so that you don’t pass that law on anti-money laundering? Did you get the money?” the President asked, without naming specific MPs.
Ruto said he was privy to intelligence on the conduct of legislators and warned that bribery was undermining the credibility of Parliament.
“By virtue of the position I hold today, I am a consumer of raw intelligence. I know what’s going on. There are people who are destroying the credibility of Parliament, and they are collecting money in the name of Parliament, but most of the time that money never gets to Parliament — it gets to a few individuals,” he said.
There are MPs collecting money on behalf of Parliament. We are going to arrest them – Ruto
The President also questioned how county officials were accessing large sums of cash, pointing to possible corruption at the devolved level.
“Where does somebody find Sh150 million? Is that his money? That is money that belongs to the county,” he remarked.
Ruto vowed tougher action against both bribe-givers and bribe-takers, saying the era of merely exposing corruption was over.
“We are not going to shame them. We are going to arrest them. Both the givers and receivers must be dealt with,” he said.
The remarks come just weeks after Parliament passed the anti-money laundering law, which aims to tighten oversight on illicit financial flows and align Kenya with international standards on combating corruption and terrorism financing.
