Kaluma calls for law to curb misuse of impeachment
Homa Bay Town Member of Parliament George Peter Kaluma has called for legislation to regulate the impeachment process, saying it is increasingly being misused by Members of County Assembly (MCAs) and Senators to extort county funds.
In a statement shared on his official X account on Wednesday, August 27, 2025, Kaluma warned that governors often face a choice between paying bribes to avoid impeachment, either to MCAs or to Senators.
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He said that this practice undermines good governance and puts enormous financial pressure on county governments.
“IMPEACHMENT is currently the tool used by Members of County Assembly and Senators to extort County Funds! Faced with the threat of impeachment, Governors must choose to either pay MCAs thousands or pay Senators millions! We now need a law on the timing, grounds and threshold of impeachable acts,” Kaluma said.
Ruto on corruption
His remarks followed President William Ruto’s declaration that some Members of Parliament (MPs) and Senators were undermining government programmes for personal gain.
The head of state noted that there were legitimate concerns about how resources were being spent in counties and questioned where someone could find Ksh150 million, stressing that such money belonged to the county.
“There are legitimate concerns about how resources are being spent on the counties. Let me ask, where does someone find 150 million? That is money that belongs to the county,” Ruto questioned.
Ruto also urged the Speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate to emphasise the need for transparency and accountability among the Parliamentarians.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the Devolution Conference in Homa Bay County on Thursday, August 14, 2025, the president singled out members of the House Oversight Committees for using sessions to extort money from guests appearing to respond to audit or budgetary queries.
“Mr. Speaker, it cannot continue to be business as usual. It is unacceptable that parliamentary committees continue to demand bribes in order to write reports or to turn a blind eye to what is happening in the national or county governments,” Ruto said.
“If we allow corruption to thrive within oversight bodies, then we undermine the very foundation of our democracy. It should not be possible for a committee of Parliament to demand payment to write reports or to look the other way.”
