Senate majority leader Aaron Cheruiyot has dismissed reports of alleged hefty allowances the National Dialogue Committee will take home.
While reacting to a report by Daily Nation, Cheruiyot said that they have never been paid for the ongoing engagements between Kenya Kwanza and the Opposition.
He insisted that at the same time, not a shilling of the taxpayer's money has been used to foot the bill of the NADCO.
The Senator said that it would be good if the paper did its due diligence before publishing.
"Please establish the facts of any matter before running a campaign on it. We have never been paid any allowance. There has never been a charge to taxpayers on behalf of NADCO. This is your usual hired headlines. Distasteful," Cheruiyot stated.
The report alleges that the Dialogue Committee has been allocated Sh106 million for the 60 days they are expected to operate.
It further notes that while most of the amount will go for administrative costs, the members will also pocket allowances whereby co-chairs Kalonzo Musyoka (Azimio) and Kimani Ichung'wah (Kenya Kwanza) will each pocket Sh50,000 per siting while other members will take home Sh40,000 per sitting.
NADCO is also comprised of former Defence CS and DAP-Kenya leader Eugene Wamalwa, National Assembly minority leader Opiyo Wandayi, Malindi MP Amina Mnyazi and Nyamira Senator Okong'o Omogeni from the Azimio side.
The side also picked Jubilee SG Jeremiah Kioni to lead their technical team, which also includes Adams Oloo, Zein Abubakar and Isabel Githinji.
The Kenya Kwanza side has Ichung'wah as leader, his Senate counterpart Aaron Cheruiyot, Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire, East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Hassan Omar and Bungoma Woman Representative Catherine Wambilianga.
Their technical team comprises lawyer Muthomi Thiankolu, Linda Musumba, Nick Biketi and Duncan Ojwang’.
On September 13, the National Dialogue Committee met National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula to discuss funding for the team.
The Star established that the meeting held at the Speaker's boardroom was a follow-up to a similar request that had been made the week before.
"We discussed the budget because Parliament is supposed to finance our operations," a source told the Star.