Lawyer and political commentator Willis Otieno has hit back at President William Ruto following his claims that senators have been soliciting up to Ksh150 million from impeached governors in exchange for saving them from removal.

Taking to his official X account in the wee hours of Tuesday, August 19, 2025, Otieno accused the President of playing double standards in the fight against corruption.

He questioned the source of funds used in extravagant donations to churches and religious institutions, specifically the Ksh1.2 billion church that the head of state admitted recently to having plans to construct at State House, Nairobi, which Otieno has termed as public land.

“Fair question, Mr President, but where does someone get Ksh1.2 billion to build a church on public land? Where does one get Ksh20 million every Sunday to donate to churches?” Otieno posed.

His remarks come a day after President Ruto alleged that governors facing impeachment have been victims of extortion, with some senators allegedly demanding astronomical bribes to block motions for their removal.

Ruto’s graft remarks

The president sent the pointed rebuke to the MPs on Monday, August 18, 2025, during the ODM and Kenya Kwanza parliamentary group meeting held in Karen, Nairobi.

During the revelation, Ruto also accused a group of MPs of pocketing Ksh10 million to pass the Anti-Money Laundering Bill, a law with far-reaching consequences for financial regulation in Kenya.

Arrest threats

“We are not going to shame them; we are going to arrest them. Whoever is giving and whoever is being given, we shall sort them out.

“Do you, for example, know that a few members of your committee collected Ksh10 million so that you can pass the law on anti-money laundering? Did you get the money?” Ruto said.

The president warned that the handful of legislators were tarnishing Parliament’s credibility by collecting money by invoking Parliament’s name.

“Going forward, there are people who are destroying the credibility of Parliament, and they are collecting money in the name of Parliament, and some of the time or most of the time that money never gets to Parliament; it gets to a few people,” Ruto noted.