Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa says he will not honour summons to appear before the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over a Ksh2 million bribery claim.

The EACC alleges that the MP solicited and received money from a businesswoman with a promise to influence the awarding of government tenders to her.

The lawmaker allegedly cut off communication with the contractor after receiving the money and has been evading her since he received the money in December 2023.

But Barasa maintains that the money was a soft loan from the businesswoman, who is a person known to him as they worked together in the 2022 elections.

“This is therefore to bring to your attention that I will not honour the summons as this is purely an abuse of the mandate of the commission,” Barasa wrote in response to the summons.

“You cannot invite me to interpret for you the reasons why the cash was transferred when you read the documents that supported the transfer of the funds because while the wiring amount is more than $1 million, you must provide support documents.”

He said he would instead send his lawyer to represent him and provide supporting documents.

’Civil matter’

The outspoken lawmaker accused the EACC of acting as a debt-collecting agent, adding that the loan is a civil matter between him and the businesswoman that cannot be turned into a criminal one.

“I’m ready to meet her in court if she pushes it there but appearing before EACC is out of the question for now,” Barasa told People Daily.

Barasa wrote that he had received a second summons. The first indicated that the “reason for this summons was to facilitate the commission in its investigations [of] failure to honour financial obligations, [and] I replied to your officer and indicated not to honour the said summons because the commission cannot be reduced into a debt collection agency”.

He said the commission had backtracked on the reasons for its earlier summons.

“I would like to bring to your attention that the deposit of Sh 2,000,000 to my Co-operative Bank account was a soft loan from the said politician who unsuccessfully ran for governor in a county in Kenya on 13th December 2023,” Barasa explains.