MCAs demanded Sh15 million to pass budget, claims official

County Assembly Speaker Moffat Teya and Clerk Daniel Orina. There have been claims that some MCAs had demanded a Sh15 million bribe from the executive to pass the 2018/2019 budget. [File, Standard]

Members of the county assembly asked for a Sh15 million bribe to approve the 2018/2019 estimates, the chairman of the budget and appropriations committee has claimed.

Speaking to The Standard, Richard Onyinkwa said some MCAs had asked him to solicit a bribe from the executive on their behalf.

“As a custodian of public interest, there is no way someone can compromise my integrity with cash. Some MCAs were asking me to ask for bribes from the executive before they could pass the budget, but I stood my ground. The sideshows you are witnessing are as a result of my stand against their efforts to extort the executive,” he said.

Onyinkwa’s claims were corroborated by a top county government official who said he had an audio recording of some of the MCAs asking for favours.

"Asking for Sh15 million to perform a role for which you were elected and paid is weird," said the official who did not wish to be named.

The standoff was said to have delayed the final process of legitimising the budget, which included tabling it in the assembly and debating it before its passage.

However, the county speaker, Moffat Teya, defended the MCAs.

“What we have been witnessing in the assembly as MCAs disagreed over the budget was purely because of the various interests of the people they represent, which they wanted to be captured in the budget estimates,” he said, adding that no one had lodged a complaint or presented a petition.

Last Thursday, MCAs clashed after some of them opposed the tabling of the budget report, claiming it had been doctored. 

Onyinkwa had insisted that the document be presented to the house.

During the session Onyinkwa threatened to expose the details of the corruption that he said was threatening the approval of the budget.

However, Mr Teya, ordered that the matter be handled at a private meeting between the aggrieved MCAs and the leadership of the county assembly.

The MCAs had vowed to block the budget, claiming it had been manipulated by the committee chairman.

Claims of bribery were said to have dominated the meeting, with accusations and counter-accusations.

The county assembly approved the budget during a special sitting on Friday in the absence of the finance executive, Jackline Kemunto, who was said to have travelled to Nairobi.