Migori Senator Eddy Oketch has claimed that a section of Nyanza MPs allied to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) received bribes from State House.
According to the lawmaker, his colleagues who met with President William Ruto and DP Rigathi Gachagua on Tuesday received Sh50 million to ditch the opposition.
Those pictured with the Kenya Kwanza Alliance leaders included; Gideon Ochando (Bondo), Elisha Odhiambo (Gem), Mark Nyamita (Uriri), Caroli Omondi (Suba South), Shakeel Shabir (Kisumu East), Felix Odiwuor alias Jalang’o (Lang’ata), Paul Abuor (Rongo) and Kisumu Senator Prof Tom Ojienda.
In a tweet, Mr Oketch termed the move as “unfortunate”, adding that the leaders had betrayed the community by holding talks with the head of state.
Read: ODM Blasts “Selfish” MPs who Held Talks with President Ruto
“It is unfortunate that a section of ODM MPs has been given 50 million by Statehouse to leave Azimio and join Kenya Kwanza. Let’s not sell the souls of our people. Betrayal in the city, you think you are destroying Baba but instead, you are destroying the community,” he tweeted.
The Tuesday meeting saw the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance leaders call for a “must-attend” meeting on Thursday.
National Assembly minority leader Opiyo Wandayi said the meeting will be attended by party honchos.
“We are going to use that opportunity to take count of our troops as we gear up for the second session of the National Assembly. We must always try to find out how the troops are doing we want to see if they are still intact, and therefore it’s in order to take stock of the gains we have made and the possible losses we might have incurred since we went for the long recess,” the Ugunja MP said.
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“We have made it very clear that we want every Azimio MP to attend, of course, there might be cases that are beyond our control, but we want everyone to attend, and we will treat every case on its merit. We can’t assume that all those not attending are rebelling.”
ODM had through party communications director, Phillip Etale, castigated the politicians who attended the State House meeting.
Etale stated that the meeting did not come as a surprise as some of the lawmakers were already on the party’s radar.
“The visit to State House this morning by a section of ODM members of parliament has not come as a surprise to the party and the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Movement. The party has been monitoring closely the behind-the-scenes activities involving some of them and today was just the climax,” Etale said, adding that the move was meant to weaken the opposition in the wake of anti-government rallies.
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He urged their supporters to remain steadfast as the opposition keeps the Ruto-led administration in check.
“We know that in the quest for legitimate leadership, there are those who will fall by the wayside, and some will be compromised, but the MOVEMENT remains unstoppable. This is a people’s movement aimed at defending the constitution of the land. History will judge harshly leaders who want to betray Kenyans by accepting handouts to scuttle the activities of the movement,” Etale said.
“We call on Kenyans to ignore such selfish leaders who only care about their stomachs and not the well-being of the millions of poor Kenyans.”
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