President William Ruto has unleashed one of the most
momentous anti-corruption bombshells in the history of Kenya’s Parliament since
independence.
On Monday, he repeated for the second
time that MPs and senators have morphed into extortionist cartels who demand
cash from officials they summon (Cabinet Secretaries, Governors, parastatal
bosses, senior police officers or heads of independent commissions) with the
promise of providing positive outcomes.
The public has always suspected these levels of graft, as
some of our politicians in Parliament are career criminals for whom blackmail is
child’s play.
Ruto has been a politician for more than three decades and
has himself served as an MP. He knows what he is talking about.
Shockingly, and it was to be expected, MPs and senators have
indignantly dismissed Ruto’s statement creating the unlikely idea that it is
all a witch-hunt.
Their greed has gotten to a scale at which they have become
a threat to the dignity of the house.
A majority are so morally bankrupt it’s a shame they found
themselves in a hallowed institution.
Ruto must move one step further and help the EACC arrest and charge a culprit to send a strong and chilling message that the role of MPs is not to collect bribes.
Quote of the day: “Development is
not about factories, dams and roads.
Development is about people.” —The Indian
statesman Rajiv Gandhi, who served from 1984
to 1989, was born on August 20, 1944
