The proposal was another attempt to raid the public coffers that rekindled memories of the unbridled appetite for taxpayers’ funds exhibited by the outgoing Parliament.
Scandal after scandal dogged the MPs. Some of their names were linked to the Nairobi cemetery scandal and the looting of the Strategic Grain Reserve.
When the fugitive businessman Yagnesh Devani of Triton Oil was accused of conning the Kenya Pipeline Company out of oil worth millions, names of MPs popped up in the investigations.
There was also the sale of the Grand Regency Hotel to Libyan investors – who have since renamed it Laico Regency Hotel – that saw the then minister for Finance, Mr Amos Kimunya, censured.
In mid-2011, as they sat down to implement the new Constitution, the MPs arm-twisted then Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta to set aside Sh2 billion to cover the tax on their allowances for that financial year. They got their way.
When the new Finance minister Njeru Githae came on board in 2012, the MPs wrangled an additional Sh500 million into the budget to cover their taxes up to the expiry of their term on Monday.
Audit reports prepared by the Treasury and the Kenya National Audit Office show that as much as Sh5.96 billion disbursed to the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Conservation for the construction of five dams cannot be accounted for.
The dams project had been put on ice because the money was not available. When the money was made available the Treasury alleged it was embezzled by well-connected cartels working with officials in the NWCPC and Tanathi Water Services Board.
A parliamentary probe absolved Water minister Charity Ngilu of any wrongdoing.
Later it emerged that Sh1.1 billion had been lost in a controversial sale of Kenyan embassy properties abroad.
Then Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula was forced to quit momentarily after parliamentary censure, but he returned to the Cabinet, and is now Trade minister. The details of the investigation have never been made public.
Lawmakers were accused of embezzling the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) cash. Two days before they adjourned, Mr Charles Kilonzo (Yatta) alluded to rampant misuse of the money sent to the constituencies.
“What MPs have done is to sit on the CDF over a period of time, I think it stinks as we said here,” Mr Kilonzo said.
MPs crippled the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. They amended the law and kicked out director Prof PLO Lumumba and his deputies.
The appointment of new commissioners under the new Constitution has been problematic.
Integrity has been a problem in the Tenth Parliament to the extent that dozens of lawmakers have openly come out and criticised their colleagues over bribery and extortion claims.
Dr Oburu Oginga, Mr Shakeel Shabbir, Dr Boni Khalwale and Ms Millie Odhiambo have all complained about corruption. They accused their colleagues of having been bribed with between Sh20,000 and Sh50,000 to reject or approve motions.
“I did not eat lunch but I am going … I cannot go for lunch worth Sh50,000,” said Ms Odhiambo when MPs rejected calls to have the government reduce bank interest rates.
For the MPs to drop the bid to regulate interest rates through the law, they cut a deal with the Finance minister to have their send-off package increased from Sh1.5 million to Sh3.72 million.
If anyone crossed their paths, the MPs fought back viciously. Former US ambassador Michael Ranneberger was almost censured by the lawmakers. In that censure attempt, Ms Martha Karua (Gichugu) accused her colleagues of operating like mercenaries.
“As a matter of fact, I have said that the way we are behaving, we are like the greatest auction house in Africa, and we know that this motion may as well have been sponsored by those who are afraid of certain things,” Ms Karua said on December 22, 2010.
Her colleagues took issue with her for “imputing improper motive” on their standing. She stood her ground.
“The dictates of my conscience will not allow me to do that,” she defiantly told Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim when he asked her to withdraw her views. For that, she was thrown out.
The issue of integrity also came up when MPs were debating the reappointment of Justice Aaron Ringera as Kacc director.
That day, in September 2009, the late John Michuki knew that MPs who wanted Mr Ringera picked for the job had cut a deal with their colleagues who wanted full compensation for all squatters evicted from Mau Forest. The deal was for the MPs to work together and approve the two motions.
“The issue of Mau is very serious. I thought that rather than engage in the Ringera issue and all the frivolous issues, we should engage in national and international issues, because we must redeem this Bunge. We must redeem our integrity. We have gone too low in the way we value issues. If the Ringera issue is more important than that of Mau Forest, and people are trading the Ringera issue with that of Mau, I must confess that I am ashamed to be in this Bunge,” Mr Michuki said.
While they passed the highest number of Bills (256), the MPs watered down laws such as the Elections Act, the Political Parties Act, the EACC Act, and the Leadership and Integrity Act in what was seen as their insatiable quest for self-preservation. - Saturday Nation
