Sifuna dares Ruto to name MPs demanding bribes from CSs, Governors

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has challenged President William Ruto to name those he accused of soliciting money from Cabinet Secretaries and Governors, citing that such remarks require proof. 

President Ruto, in his address during the Devolution Conference in Homa Bay County on Wednesday, claimed that some MPs had turned Parliamentary committees into money-minting rings. 

“There is something happening in Parliament that must be called out. There is money being demanded from the Executive, from Governors…especially those who are for accountability," the Head of State noted. 

“It cannot continue to be business as usual. It cannot be that committees of Parliament demand to be paid for them to write reports or look the other way.”

In response, Senator Sifuna explained that such accusations required the President to list the legislators involved in such corrupt activities.

He referenced the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, stating that he did not require any cash rewards to take a stand on the matter. 

"I want President William Ruto to tell the country who the people soliciting money from Cabinet Secretaries and Governors are. Let him tell us. To make such blunt accusations, we need names," Sifuna stated during the Law Society of Kenya's Annual Conference held in Diani on Friday.

"As Sifuna, I had taken a public position on (former Deputy President Rigathi) Gachagua way prior to his impeachment. Are you telling me you pay me to do something I already wanted to do?"

He added: "Had I not gone on record objecting to some of the things that were coming from the pulpit of the DP, was I going to demand that you pay me to impeach Gachagua?"

Sifuna also responded to Ruto on the ‘Wantam (‘one-term’)’ slogan, which has gained traction online amid growing calls for the President not to be voted into office for a seocn term. He noted that the slogan mirrors the way Ruto rose to power using the Hustler slogan.

"We must be brave and bold. Saving a nation is like an existential fight for the very soul of this country. It is not an easy task. The very people who ascended to power on the back of a slogan, running around saying hustler, nobody understood what they meant. Those same people are saying we cannot do the same and go on a slogan, say it yourselves, ‘Wantam’," Sifuna added.

During the devolution conference, Ruto read the riot act to the MPs for allegedly extorting the Executive in order to carry out their mandate.

He demanded that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) launches investigations and crack down such legislators.

“I have made it clear to EACC that there will be no sacred cows. There will be no phone calls from below or above to stop anyone from being prosecuted," Ruto stated.