Uasin Gishu Woman Representative, Gladys Boss Shollei, questioned whether Citizen TV anchor Sam Gituku was given a brief to defend President Uhuru Kenyatta's family over a recent report indicating that the first family has stashed billions offshore.
Shollei, who was a guest on the Day Break show on Tuesday, October 5, questioned why Gituku - the show host - was siding with the Kenyatta family who were implicated in the worlds largest financial documents leak - The Pandora Papers.
The Woman Rep made the comment in a response to the anchor after the two refused to agree on whether the amount in question was Ksh3.3 billion or Ksh3.3 trillion.
According to the report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the amount the Kenyatta family is said to be holding in some offshore accounts was Ksh3.3 billion.
"Part of report states that those businesses which are registered in Panama and the British Virgin Islands hold bank accounts and real estate worth more than USD30,000,000."
"If you were to convert that against the dollar rate of about Ksh110, that would come to about Ksh3.3 billion," Gituku stated.
Shollei had a different value. She stated that the properties were worth Ksh3 trillion.
"I don’t know if you have been given a brief to defend the Kenyatta's on this, I’m saying things that I have read myself," she interjected.
She further stated that she had done her due diligence on the topic the previous night and was making her argument based on facts.
Gituku, while referring to the figures listed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism and challenged the legislator to share her source of the figures.
“I would appreciate if you share with us the source because the ICIJ is talking about USD30,000,000,” he countered.
The Woman Rep folded in, agreeing to the USD30,000,000 value.
Shollei, in a bid to move away from the mathematics of the conversion, argued that whether it was Ksh3 billion or trillion, the idea of leaders stashing large sums of money in offshore accounts is still immoral.
Gituku maintained that he does not downplay the amount of money.
"I am not saying its small money.Ksh3.3 billion is a lot of money and is sufficient to finance the Devolution ministry for a year whose budget is Ksh3.24 billion," he stated.
