Kuria: Ruto just admitted MPs pass laws through bribes
By Ascah Mwango, August 19, 2025Former senior Economic Adviser to the President, Moses Kuria, has suggested that President William Ruto’s claims that Members of Parliament have turned Parliament into a den of bribes confirm that lawmakers may have been passing bills through inducements.
Speaking on a local TV station on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, Kuria argued that the President’s admission shed light on the unexplained speed with which certain crucial government bills sailed through Parliament.
He noted that landmark legislation, such as the four bills underpinning Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the controversial housing levy, was passed unusually fast, a fact that now appeared to be linked to financial inducements.
“Somehow, I am feeling grateful to the President by saying that MPs vote because of financial inducement. Maybe that explains how they, in record time, passed four bills for the UHC, a darling of the President. Thank you, Mr. President, for letting us know. Maybe that is how they passed the housing levy in record time. We did not know why, now, the President yesterday may have given us hints of how he achieved that,” Kuria stated.
Kuria further cautioned that the President’s remarks risked undermining the credibility of numerous laws enacted under his administration. By suggesting that MPs were routinely bribed to approve legislation, the President had inadvertently raised doubts about whether important government bills, including those dealing with sensitive areas such as anti-money laundering, were passed on their merit or through corruption.
According to Kuria, this revelation could open what he termed a dangerous Pandora’s box, leaving Kenyans unable to distinguish between laws passed legitimately and those pushed through Parliament under questionable circumstances.
“Even if Parliament is corrupt, how do they pass all these bills which we need as a government to carry out our agenda? If they are being bribed for anti-money laundering, a government bill, how do you know that they were not bribed for other things? It is opening a very dangerous Pandora’s box where you can’t differentiate between what was passed in a legit way and what was passed by inducement,” he added.
Not business as usual
On Wednesday, August 13, 2025, Ruto accused MPs of using oversight committees as money-minting machines instead of fulfilling their constitutional roles. Speaking at the Devolution Conference in Homa Bay County, the Head of State said legislators were demanding money from government officials and governors in exchange for favourable reports.
“Something is happening in Parliament that must be called out. There is money being demanded from the executive, from governors, from people in the executive, especially those who are for accountability,” Ruto said.
The President claimed that some committees were running extortion schemes, adding that the practice was undermining accountability.
“It cannot continue to be business as usual. It cannot be committees of Parliament demand to be paid for them to write reports or look the other way,” he said.
Ruto also directed his criticism at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, warning that no official would be protected from prosecution if found guilty of graft.
“I have made it clear to EACC that there will be no sacred cows. There will be no phone calls from below or above to stop anyone from being prosecuted,” he declared.