Uhuru gov’t paid MPs Ksh.100K each to remove Duale as Majority Leader: Kuria
Former Gatundu South MP and ex-Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has once again alleged that the Uhuru Kenyatta government bribed Members of Parliament to remove Aden Duale as National Assembly Majority Leader back in 2020.
Speaking during Citizen TV’s The Explainer show on Tuesday night, Kuria claimed that each MP received Ksh.100,000 to back Duale’s replacement, then Kipipiri MP Amos Kimunya.
According to him, the decision was reached at a Jubilee Parliamentary Group meeting chaired by President Uhuru at the KICC.
Kuria added that he openly displayed the cash in Parliament and even offered to return it—an act he insists was recorded in the Parliamentary Hansard.
“In the 12th Parliament, we were given money by Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime to remove Aden Duale as Majority Leader. It is on Hansard that I waved the money. Each MP got Ksh.100,000, and I went to the floor of the House and offered to return mine,” Kuria said.
This is not the first time Kuria has made the claim. In 2021, he told the BBC that MPs were given “facilitation” to endorse Kimunya, admitting he accepted the money but was ready to refund it. He described such payments as common practice in parliamentary lobbying.
At the time, the Jubilee Party was cracking down on MPs seen as loyal to then Deputy President William Ruto, with Duale being one of the casualties.
Debate Rekindled as Ruto Accuses MPs of Extortion
Kuria’s renewed remarks come just days after President William Ruto accused MPs of demanding bribes and extorting senior government officials and Governors in exchange for favorable committee reports and legislative backing.
During the Devolution Conference in Homa Bay, Ruto said some MPs had turned House committees into money-minting rackets instead of carrying out their oversight role.
He repeated the same concerns at the Kenya Kwanza–ODM Parliamentary Group meeting at State House, warning that lawmakers involved in the extortion ring—known as “soko huru”—would be prosecuted.
Investigations show that “soko huru” is a secret system where Governors and top government officials pay MPs to avoid tough questioning in committees or to influence reports tabled in Parliament.
Ruto revealed that intelligence reports linked one Senate committee to an extortion case involving Ksh.150 million, money allegedly diverted from county funds.
“For example, the latest ‘soko huru’ in the Senate. I get raw intelligence; I know what is going on. Where does somebody get Ksh.150 million? That’s money meant for counties,” the President said.
Kuria: “Money in Parliament is Normal”
Despite the uproar, Kuria maintains that inducements in Parliament are inevitable, arguing that it would be dishonest to deny that such practices exist.
Uhuru gov’t paid MPs Ksh.100K each to remove Duale as Majority Leader: Kuria
