Belgut Member of Parliament Nelson Koech addressed an image showing him holding a wad of cash, which was widely believed to be proceeds of graft.
During an appearance on Citizen TV’s Daybreak, Koech explained the context of the photo. He stated that the Ksh.3 million was an award for a football tournament organized by Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot, and he was handing over the money. Koech clarified that the money was originally supposed to be handed over to the winning team by Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, who had to leave due to bad weather.
“This was Senator Aaron Cheruiyot’s tournament. My only mistake was to hand over the price to the people who had won the tournament. It is not my money you can see the t-shirt is written Cheruiyot,” he said.
“In fact Honourable Kingi was going to do it but because he had flown in there and the weather was getting bad, he had to leave and I was given the money to hand over.”
Koech further argued that the money was not fraudulently acquired, noting that it was donated by friends and partners who organized the tournament.
He noted the annual tournament is sponsored by Cheruiyot and the prize money is always Ksh.3 million for the top team.
“This is a collection. He collects from friends, and corporate institutions to support the young people and he has this football tournament for young people,” said Koech.
“I am very disappointed with the people who were in this tournament because they should have come out to defend Cheruiyot and myself from that lynching.”
Koech’s defense comes amid public uproar on legislators flaunting money online whose sources have been put to question.
In the past few months, leaders have been conducting harambees where they donate ridiculous amounts of money including Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi who was seen donating Ksh.20 million.
