Filthy rich ruling elite vomiting on shoes of poor, hungry citizens

UDA leader alights from a helicopter at Ibacho in Kisii County during a campaign tour. [File, Standard]

As millions of Kenyans riot in want, unsure where their next meal will come from, the luxurious lives of a cabal of super-rich politicians and senior government officials who have invested some of their “fabulous wealth” in purchasing apartments in Middle East, Europe and America has been laid bare.

The state of this group of leaders was exposed in the Senate on Wednesday, where tales were told of how Cabinet Secretaries had acquired billions and were competing in displaying their opulence to the chagrin of Kenyans.

In a rare show of solidarity, the senators who broke their political party affiliations exposed their colleagues who have allegedly acquired wealth from the public coffers and bought choppers and mansions in Kenya and abroad even as Kenyans languish in poverty.

While attributing the citizens unrest to corruption and embezzlement of public money, the senators called out MPs who have been hoping from one church to the other in choppers carrying bundles of money in sacks to wow worshipers during fundraisers.

The super-rich, the senators said, collect as much money as possible from Monday to Thursday to go and spend it on Friday and Saturday.

“Until we demonetize our politics, and the space of influence, it will continue to be a gold rush and the desire on every member.  People don’t know that the cycle and the life of a politician in this country involves running Monday to Thursday, collecting as much as you can, only to go and spend it on Friday to Sunday,” Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot told the senators.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale told the Senate that the impugned Finance Bill 2024 was just a trigger for the nationwide mass protests against the government by the young generation, saying corruption by public servants led by Cabinet Secretaries was the main problem that had angered Kenyans.

Displaying wealth

He said Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa was all over in public displaying wealth and opulence, noting Kenyans who survive from hand to mouth could no longer stomach such incidents.

“I’m asking the president to ask himself, how can the membership of an MP to a committee of Parliament be the basis for him to be able to afford some of the things that are not affordable. Didmus Barasa, take it easy, those helicopters will not change your life. I equally offended somebody whose name I never mentioned in Kakamega over the weekend about this issue of opulence,” Khalwale said in the Senate.

In a quick rejoinder posted on X, Barasa admitted to owing a chopper and accused Khalwale of poor investment judgement by choosing to have an extraordinary family and 35 homes scattered in several counties.

At the Senate, Khalwale also wondered how an MP could donate Sh20 million at a harambee while a Cabinet Secretary could carry a white bag on his back loaded with millions of shillings.

“Mr Speaker, if we don’t refuse these things, people like Murkomen (Kipchumba) will think that they are giving us their money. It’s not their money. Those are proceeds of corruption. This House is saying no. Because of that anger, look at what our children did. Mr Speaker, people are angry and hate us as leadership because every weekend, helicopters crisscross the skies, all of them going to functions where these millions are being dished,” Khalwale said in Senate.

The senator also took issue with mode of transport of the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Secretary-General Cleophas Malala, saying while senators were struggling to rush to Senate, he was allegedly flouting laws without being arrested by the police.

“As I speak to these guzzlers, you have seen, colleagues, you are there struggling to rush to this Senate, then an MP, then a Secretary General of a political party comes with chase cars, his vehicle having the national flags with a siren, and the police do not arrest those people. The law is very clear on who should actually fly the national flag,” he said.

He claimed the CSs “became ministers because a corrupt Parliament allowed them to become ministers”. 

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei cited a trend by MPs and CSs displaying their wealth, and sarcastically claimed that the quality of air in the last two weeks had improved “because when choppers were crisscrossing, it was also affecting our agenda of climate change”.

“People would fly in, reorganise the programme of a funeral or a church service, speak, insult other elected leaders, give out the money that God knows where they got it from, millions of shillings, and then fly away,” the senator said.

He advocated a lifestyle audit on State officials, and especially those contributing loads of cash in fundraisers

Looting billions

Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka wondered how one person could have four million acres of land even as he claimed that there was too much stealing by State officials.

“The members of public know your houses, they know where your kids go to school, they know which properties of land you have. What happened to our mentality that we pretend and run to churches talking about Christianity, do you understand what you are dealing with?” he posed.

The senator accused governors of looting billions of monies and investing in buying palatial houses in Kilimani.

He accused CSs of stealing money meant for sports sector such as FIFA, World Rally Championship and Kenya Loan Tennis Association and travelling out of the country using private jets with some of their close associates.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna spoke about fake retreats which he attributed to schemes by corrupt State officials and called for a thorough audit.