National Assembly Finance Committee Chair Kuria Kimani on Wednesday, sought guidance on what to do with Ksh168,000 he received from Kenyans while drafting the Finance Bill 2024. 

The Molo MP sought guidance from NA Speaker Moses Wetangula noting that it was against the law to receive public funds.  

Kimani made the disclosure while he was tabling the Finance Bill to the floor of the House for a second reading. 

“In a very special way, although these people bridged the Data Protection Act by sharing our numbers with Kenyans, but I also thank the Kenyans who wrote to us through SMS that called us and some of them were generous enough to send us Ksh1 and more to confirm if our numbers were authentic,” he stated. 

Activists had made the numbers of legislators public so as to pressure them to remove punitive taxes in the Bill.

The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) elected MP had earlier admitted that the calls and SMS received from Kenyans had guided the Committee while preparing the final draft of the Finance Bill. 

“I have written to the clerk wondering what to do with the Ksh168,000 that was sent to e because receiving these gifts from members of the public is against the laws of this Republic,” he explained his distress. 

He added that he would seek guidance from Speaker Wetangula on what to do with the cash after the morning sitting. 

Kuria remarked that he had tried engaging a telecommunications company in reversing the cash. 

“I tried reversing it was impossible because it came in hundreds of thousands,” he explained why he still had the cash.  

Mumias East MP Peter Salasya had earlier revealed that he received Ksh40,000 in a similar manner. 

Unlike Kuria, the first term MP decided to use the money during a church fundraising in Kakamega County on Sunday, June 16. By Kioko Nyamasyo, Kenyans.co.ke