{"id":119927,"date":"2025-08-18T11:02:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T11:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/08\/18\/ruto-threatens-mps-with-arrest-for-extortion-as-raila-cautions-rot-scaring-away-investors\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T11:02:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T11:02:59","slug":"ruto-threatens-mps-with-arrest-for-extortion-as-raila-cautions-rot-scaring-away-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/ruto-threatens-mps-with-arrest-for-extortion-as-raila-cautions-rot-scaring-away-investors\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruto threatens MPs with arrest for extortion as Raila cautions rot scaring away investors"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 18 \u2014 President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga have sounded stern warnings over rising cases of extortion and corruption in Parliament, saying the vice is undermining governance and eroding investor confidence in the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking at a joint engagement with legislators from Kenya Kwanza and ODM, President Ruto accused some lawmakers of turning parliamentary committees into extortion rackets, cautioning that those implicated would face arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery few leaders can stand and tell you to stop the extortion going on in Parliament,\u201d Ruto said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are one team, but there are people destroying the credibility of Parliament. They collect money in its name, but most of the time that money never reaches Parliament \u2014 it ends up with a few individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The President alleged that some committee members had collected up to Sh10 million to facilitate the passage of certain laws, including on anti-money laundering, yet most MPs never received the funds. <\/p>\n

He further questioned the source of unexplained wealth among some legislators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere does one get Sh150 million? Is that their money? That is money that belongs to the counties,\u201d Ruto charged.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not going to shame them. We are going to arrest them \u2014 those giving, those receiving, and those facilitating.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stressed that unless the rot is confronted, it risks destroying the credibility of Parliament and weakening Kenya\u2019s democratic institutions.<\/p>\n

On his part, Raila Odinga warned that the culture of extortion was scaring away investors and stifling development. He said that while lobbying is a legitimate global practice, in Kenya it had degenerated into outright extortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cLobbying is okay. In the US, you have lobby firms formed to lobby members of Congress. They come to lobby parliamentarians,\u201d Raila said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut lobbying is a different thing from extortion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Odinga added that the practice gives Parliament \u201ca very bad image\u201d when MPs solicit funds under the guise of committee welfare.<\/p>\n

He cautioned that extortion and unnecessary bureaucracy were creating a hostile investment environment, deterring private capital from funding projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrivate capital is risk-shy. For example, when someone brings in their resources to start a project and then others begin making noise \u2014 that it has not been approved or is being implemented corruptly \u2014 they pull out,\u201d Raila said.<\/p>\n

He urged MPs to create a predictable and supportive investment climate, warning that political interference and rent-seeking were slowing down national development.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 18 \u2014 President William Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga have sounded stern warnings over rising cases of extortion and corruption in Parliament, saying the vice is undermining governance and eroding investor confidence in the country. Speaking at a joint engagement with legislators from Kenya Kwanza and ODM, President Ruto accused some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}