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The MP said she has been brought up in a humble background beset with abject poverty where she was helped by well-wishers to even wear her Std 1 school uniform.
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Her upbringing and the need to give back to society, the MP said, are part of the reasons why she can not sit back when punitive policies are being pushed down the throat of Kenyans.
Image: GEORGE MUGO
Outspoken Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba now claims she started opposing government policies after realising that Kenya Kwanza was insensitive to the plight of her voters.
The vocal MP who was elected on the United Democratic Alliance ticket said she has no apologies to make for going against some of Kenya Kwanza's policies.
The MP said she has been brought up in a humble background beset with abject poverty where she was helped by well-wishers to even wear her Std 1 school uniform.
Her upbringing and the need to give back to society, the MP said, are part of the reasons why she can not sit back when punitive policies are being pushed down the throat of Kenyans.
According to her, most Kenyans do not understand why she behaves differently and takes hardline positions against some issues.
"They only see us on screens and they don't understand the other burdens that we carry. I have very special burdens that I carry based on where I have come from," Wamuchomba said.
Speaking during a no-holds-barred interview with KTN News on Thursday night, Wamuchomba said most of her views are informed by where and how he was brought up and schooled.
That background, she said, influences her actions and persuasions beyond the political expectations of other people.
The MP who is allied to the ruling Kenya Kwanza alliance shocked her UDA party when she campaigned vigorously against the Finance Bill, 2023 claiming it was punitive with heavy taxes on Kenyans.
On Thursday, the MP explained why she went against the government's position, saying she believed the Bill was a "controversial document" that had things which she did not agree with.
"I knew if I did agree with them then, there is a section of people that I represent which I felt were not going to be treated fairly," Wamuchoma said adding that the decision was engineered by her socialisation.
"When the Finance Bill came and I read it through, I felt that the Kenya Kwanza government was insensitive to the needs of the people that supported him, people who had my story, resonated with my story and gave me votes."
According to the MP, she was given votes because her constituents knew that she was a 'child' who replicates a certain family in her constituency.
"I decided to say no to certain things and one of the things that I felt I needed to stand up was the issue of the fuel levy. Having been in the previous 12th Parliament I know what eight per cent did to us, forget about the 16 per cent," she said.
"I knew adding more levy on fuel would be very punitive on my voters."
Wamuchomba had previously stated that she was ready to pay the ultimate price for opposing what she had termed as oppressive policies by the government.
At some point, she claimed that she was sidelined during President William Ruto's tour of her Githunguri backyard last year.
The MP was the only UDA MP who aggressively opposed the government's proposal to increase the fuel levy from 8 per cent to 16 per cent saying it would hurt hustlers.
The tax proposal was contained in the Finance Bill, 2023 which was passed by Parliament and later assented into law by President William Ruto.
The matter was later taken to court and dismissed although some sections of the Act including the Housing Levy are still pending.
The Court of Appeal Judges Lydia Achode, John Mativo and Mwaniki Gachoka will today rule on whether to temporarily suspend the housing tax.
The Appellate court which presided over the hearing of an appeal filed by the Attorney General, KRA, Treasury and Parliament will decide whether to extend or abolish conservatory orders issued by the lower court on the rollout of the housing tax.