Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has addressed claims that Members of Parliament (MP) were bribed by the government to vote in favor of the Finance Bill 2024.
Gachagua made the remarks following claims that MPs particularly those affiliated with the ruling Kenya Kwanza government received Ksh2 million to vote in favor of the Bill.
The second in command was speaking on Saturday, June 29, during a fundraiser in Maragua, Murang’a County where he addressed a number of issues within the government.
In his remarks, Gachagua denied the claims that government ‘offered’ parliamentarians money to influence Finance Bill 2024 vote, despite contradictory accounts by some MPs.
In his speech, the DP maintained that in his capacity as the deputy party leader of the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party, no such transactions were made.
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Gachagua pleads with Kenyans
He urged those issuing such claims to avoid spreading false information, which according to him paints a bad image to the parliamentarians.
“I also want to confirm a Deputy President and as the deputy party leader of UDA that we didn’t allocate Ksh2 million to any of our MPs, it is not true.
Let us stop spreading false information and avoid tainting a bad picture to the Members of Parliament.
Let us not castigate members of parliament that they were given money to vote Yes for the Finance Bill. From where I seat there is no such money, there was nothing like that,” said the DP.
At the same time, DP Gachagua urged Kenyans to restrain from attacking their parliamentarians in any form, pointing out that they have since learnt their lesson.
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According to the DP, the lawmakers have learnt their lesson which will help them to listen to their constituents in the future.
“Let us give our Members of Parliament an opportunity to serve you. There is no need to destroy their property, there is no need to intimidate them, there is no need to call them names let us allow them time to serve,” he said.
Finance Bill protests
His remarks come following incidents where several MPs have been targeted with their property being destroyed by protesters who were expressing their frustration with the Finance Bill 2024.
The incidents came after the invasion of Parliament on Tuesday, June 25, during the anti-Finance Bill demonstration, which occurred shortly after the bill was passed.
Molo MP and National Assembly Finance and Planning Committee Chairperson Kuria Kimani was among MPs who suffered the wrath of the angry protesters.
The protesters stormed in his home in Molo, vandalized it, destroyed property worth millions and eventually set thousands of his chickens on fire.
Consequently, DP Gachagua while addressing the nation following the events of June 25, implicated National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director General Noordin Haji in the deadly protests.
The second in command called for the resignation of Haji whom he blamed for the destruction and deaths witnessed during the Finance Bill 2024 protests.
Rigathi said that President William Ruto was not properly informed about the views of the people by NIS, and that he would have otherwise not pushed for the bill.
He called for the resignation of Noordin Haji while stating that the NIS was dysfunctional and did not inform the President on time to allow him to take action.
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