President Ruto spells doom on extortionists in parliament

Citizen Digital has learnt that soko huru is a colloquial term for an extortion system that members of parliamentary committees have adopted while summoning governors and other top government leaders.

Summoned persons pay a specific amount of money to allow committee members to be lenient on grilling the summoned individual or even deviate from publishing a credible report to the House.

Speaking during an ODM-Kenya Kwanza Parliamentary Group Meeting in Karen on Monday, President Ruto maintained that intelligence reports availed to him revealed that the recent extortion incident saw somebody paying off Ksh.150 million to a Senate committee.

"For example, the latest soko huru in the Senate. By virtue of the position I hold I am a consumer of raw intelligence, I know what is going on. Where does somebody find Ksh.150 million. That is money that belongs to the county," he said.

President Ruto added that this scheme has severely punctured Parliament's credibility by using the House's name for self-monetary gain.

He noted that he will ensure that those individuals will be put behind bars.

"They are collecting money in the name of Parliament. Most of the time, that money never gets to Parliament, it goes to a few people. We are not going to shame them we are going to arrest them," he vowed.

"Whoever is giving, whoever is being given we will sort them out because the reality is that there is a problem. Unless we sort it out we are going to destroy this nation."

He further intimated that the same scheme was involved in the passing of the Anti-Money Laundering law.

"Do you know that some of your members collected Ksh.10 million so that you could pass the law on Anti-money laundering? Did you get the money?" he posed to the legislators.

President Ruto argued that soko huru is crippling the utilization of resources to the grassroots, clawing back on the spirit of devolution.

"Devolution is about the people. The governor is not devolution. We must get development to the local people as much as it is practically possible," he noted.

"There are legitimate concerns on how resources are being spent in the counties."

He asserted that he will not create room for individuals impeding the fruitful implementation of devolution, stating that Kenyans should fully benefit from the devolved government functions.