Public accounts committee accuses Executive of bribing MCAs with Sh50m

Kakamega,Kenya: The county executive is on the spot over claims of bribing assembly members to pass bills presented in the House.

It is alleged that the executive has been interfering with the running of assembly affairs where it sponsors members for  retreats in a move seen as affecting the credibility of bills passed.

The assembly’s Public Accounts and Investment Committee (PAIC) alleged that more than Sh50 million has been spent by the executive on sponsoring some MCAs for meetings to discuss bills before they are tabled in the House.

But in his defense, Governor Wycliffe Oparanya said the move is not an illegality. He explained that there was no problem with the executive financing a session with the assembly.

He said the executive is at liberty to use such meetings to bond and inform committee members of the upcoming development projects that it wants to initiate.

NATIONAL STANDARD

“This even happens in the national assembly. These sessions and retreats are used to exchange ideas, share information and even explain to the committees what we plan to do or we are currently doing. I find nothing wrong with it,” said Mr Oparanya.

“The assembly also invites the executives for their retreats, and whenever we call them, we cater for their expenses and whenever the committees summon them they cater for expenses. There’s no illegality at all,” he added.

The concerns came up after the assembly failed to raise a quorum for the plenary discussion on Friday.

Members were said to have been attending committee retreats, and out of 80 members only 12 were present leading to failure to hold the discussion.

This prompted PAIC members to question the rationale of the executive sponsoring MCAs for ‘outings’, accusing it of compromising committees to ensure bills presented were approved.