Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale has said the withdrawn Finance Bill, 2024 was just a trigger for the nationwide mass protests against the government by the young generation.
Speaking on the floor of the House on Wednesday, the senator said Gen Zs who have been the force behind the civil disobedience are angry at poor governance, corruption and impunity.
“Mr Speaker, we are where we are today because Kenyans hate and are angry with the ongoings in the country and if we don’t speak to them and take action, we are going nowhere,” he said.
“It was never the Finance Bill, it was simply that the Finance Bill was a trigger. Why? Because public servants are very corrupt and people hate this and people are angry,” he said.
Khalwale was contributing to a motion on the current State of the Nation moved by Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot.
“People are angry and hate public servants because of our own making. The public display of wealth and opulence, unless members of the public can quickly see where you have gotten it, will not be happy,” he said.
Young Kenyans, now popular as Gen Z, ignited public outrage at the state of affairs in the country led by government’s insistence on imposing extra taxes on Kenyans via the Finance Bill despite widespread disapproval.
They stormed Parliament on June 25 and left a section of it in ruins after MPs defied their calls to shoot down the unpopular Bill whose proposed tax measures they considered ‘punitive’.
President William Ruto on Wednesday toned down his stance and declined to sign the Bill but this has done little to appease the masses who have continued to protest and demand better governance, particularly on eradicating corruption and accountability of public funds.
Khalwale said this open show of defiance is the pent up anger Kenyans have had over the years in the face of impunity by people in leadership positions.
“Over the weekend I was speaking of a young member of Parliament from my community who has bought a helicopter and I know him very well. I wish him well to continue with accumulating wealth but please, I’m asking the President to ask himself, how the membership of an MP to a committee of Parliament be the basis for him to afford some of the things that are not affordable,” he asked.
The senator added that Kenyans are equally perturbed at how an MP can afford to donate Sh20 million at a Harambee.
“In another function, I saw a minister of this government carrying a wide bag on the back like this and started announcing how many millions are in that bag. Mr speaker, if we don’t refuse these things, people will think that they are giving us their money, that is not their money, those are proceeds of corruption,” Khalwale said.
He went on: “Mr Speaker, people are angry at us because every weekend, helicopters crisscross the skies all of them going to functions where these millions are being dished.”
This fueled by the numerous fuel guzzlers many legislators drive, Khalwale said, fueled the anger among the Gen Z who decided to let those in leadership know that they have had enough.