MP Claims Lawmakers Were Bribed Sh10 Million to Kill Sugar Report

Bomet Central MP Ronald Tonui sought to dispel claims that lawmakers were bribed with as little as Sh10,000 to shoot down the report on imported contaminated sugar.

Taking to his Facebook page, Tonui alleged that the correct figure was actually Sh10 million per member.

Kimilili lawmaker Didmus Baraza had claimed that he saw colleagues led by Wajir Woman Representative Fatuma Gedi co-ordinating an operation to hand MPs between Sh10,000 - Sh30,000 in exchange for rejecting the report that held Treasury CS Henry Rotich and his former Industrialization counterpart Aden Mohammed responsible.

Tonui, however, alleged that the public was being distracted as sugar barons linked to President Uhuru Kenyatta's family sensationalized the story on sugar containing mercury before hiking the prices.

"Uhuru's family business partners imported sugar to make huge profits...When they realised that the prices have dropped reducing the profits, they came up with the rumour of mercury.

[caption caption="Ronald Tonui (C) at a past function"][/caption]

"Now sugar prices have skyrocketed to Sh140 from Sh90 per kg," he wrote.

Tonui was likely alluding to the Rai family which owns West Kenya among other companies putting them at the centre of the sugar debate.

While West Kenya Sugar Company alone imported 34 million kilogrammes of sugar in 2017, Raiply-associated businesses imported 187 million kilogrammes in total.

The company was capitalizing on the duty-free window authorized by CS Rotich.

The Bomet lawmaker observed that the government was in no rush to confiscate the potentially unsafe sugar stashed in warehouses across the country.

Tonui further claimed that 2022 politics had blocked Jubilee lawmakers from openly commenting on the matter.

"The importers are enjoying massive profits as fools sing about 10k and not demanding that the President state his position...2022 is blocking us from commenting," Tonui maintained.

[caption caption="Ronald Tonui's post"][/caption]

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