On Tuesday, July 11, Senator Okiya Omtatah of Busia claimed that he rejected a Ksh200 million bribe that had been made to him to withdraw his petition opposing the execution of the Finance Act, 2023.
The activist stated that he was given the payment in exchange for dropping a High Court lawsuit he had brought to prevent President William Ruto’s administration from enforcing the contentious Act.
Speaking at the People’s Anti-Corruption Summit in 2023, the senator stated that he declined since the leaders’ only request of him was that he either govern or resign.
“We must make sure that we follow the law. They think everyone is worth something. As of right now, I’ve been given Ksh 200 million to drop the petition.
During the live-streamed event, he said, “But I tell them, my price is one, if you can’t govern, vacate the office for those who can govern.”
Omtatah added that the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) construction shortchanged Kenyan taxpayers by failing to secure a loan for the undertaking.
Instead, he claimed that the full Ksh900 billion that the then-Uhuru Kenyatta regime spent on the railway line was paid for by Kenyan taxpayers.
“Contrary to what we have been informed, Kenyans paid Ksh900 billion in full funding for SGR. No Ksh360 billion was spent on SGR, and no funding came from China. We are curious as to why we are “repaying” a loan for which Kenya received zero dollars, he claimed.
