National Assembly Majority Whip Silvanus Osoro has denied using crooked and unethical methods, including bribery, to persuade Azimio la Umoja MPs to skip voting for the Finance Bill 2023 in Parliament.
Osoro reportedly admitted to using crooked methods, including bribery, to manipulate systems and get opposition MPs to vote for the bill.
“I had to look for ways by hook or crook to get it through. I had to manipulate systems; I looked for ways to get the opposition MPs to play to our tune. I conspired with some opposition MPs and got some of them to be absent from the House so that I could get the numbers. Some of them were sponsored to go abroad while others were bribed to feign illness,” Osoro said during a UDA recruitment drive in Kitutu Chache South Constituency according to the Nation.
He claimed that he was misquoted and invited Azimio MPs to share a bowl of soup at parliament’s canteen, which he said was misquoted to mean money.
“I am in charge of catering in the catering committee in parliament and I just said that I invited members from the opposition and I put them in the kitchen where our mess hall is and we had pumpkin soup now you went and changed that saying that a bowl of soup translates to money, MPs take soup as well,” he said.
Osoro argued that the government did not take any action to coerce Azimio MPs, arguing that low turnout by opposition MPs affected their vote on the bill.
The Finance Bill was assented into law by President Ruto on June 26, and some MPs allied to the Azimio coalition known to have voted in support of the bill are Nairobi Woman Rep MP Esther Passaris and Lang’ata MP Felix Odiwuor (Jalang’o).
Other ODM MPs who were absent during the voting session are now facing a disciplinary process within the party. The High Court has extended conservatory orders suspending the implementation of the Finance Act 2023, which brought into effect the new all-time high fuel prices.
