Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has refuted claims by activist Boniface Mwangi that President William Ruto has bribed MPs to pass the contentious Finance Bill, 2024.

Mwangi had opined that the additional KSh30 million allocated to Members of Parliament (MPs) — through the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) — in the new proposed budget was a scheme by President Ruto to entice legislators into passing the bill.

But while advocating for NGCDF which he says has impacted positively the life of Kenyans at the grassroots, MP Babu insisted that he has not been bribed.

“Ruto cannot afford Babu Owino, and that is why Babu on a daily basis comes out clear, guns blazing, against Ruto, because I went to Parliament to represent and work for my people. Because of the kind of lifestyle that I live while growing up, the kind of suffering…I know what it means to lack school fee, because I lacked at some point. So when I’m told that a child has been sent home, I know what it is,” the outspoken MP said in an interview with Citizen TV.

And when asked to comment on how the opposition has been weakened in the country, Babu declared himself the opposition.

“When I see a mama mboga, I see my own mother who sold chang’aa to take us to school. When I see a boda boda rider, I see myself. When I see a youth who has lost hope in the slums, I think about myself. Therefore, the challenges that I experienced, I cannot allow other Kenyans to experience, and that is why I come out every other time to defend the rights of those who elected me. And that is why there is the opposition, no matter few in number as at the moment, and there is Kenya Kwanza. I cannot justify the wrongdoings of Kenya Kwanza.”

Babu is among MPs who have openly opposed the Finance Bill, 2024, insisting that it is “senseless and punitive” to the common mwananchi.

On Wednesday, June 19, MPs debated on the proposed law, with clear indication that Kenya Kwanza legislators have been whipped to support the bill.

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula directed any MP planning to move an amendment to the Bill to do so by today 1 pm.