- 195 MPs voted to pass the Bill at its third reading stage despite growing dissent from protesters who were out on the streets calling for its total rejection.
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Angery protesters stormed Parliament and vandalised a section of the Senate and set it ablaze. Properties belonging to some MPs back home were not spared.
Image: SCREENGRAB
The University of Nairobi Student Council has prevailed upon MPs who voted Yes for the now impugned Finance Bill, 2024 to apologise to their constituents.
A total of 195 MPs on Tuesday voted to pass the Bill at its third reading stage despite growing dissent from protesters who were out on the streets calling for its total rejection.
Angry protesters stormed Parliament and vandalised a section of the Senate and set it ablaze.
Properties belonging to some of the lawmakers in their home constituencies were also not spared.
In a statement on Friday, UoN Student Council president Rocha Madzao asked the MPs to apologise for going against the wishes of their electorate.
“All the Members of Parliament who voted to pass the finance bill should issue an apology to their constituents. Unfortunately, they were smiling, clapping and laughing as the president addressed the nation,” Madzao said.
Among MPs who have borne the brunt of their constituents’ fury include Kapsaret MP Oscar Sudi, Finance Committee chair and Molo MP Kimani Kuria and Kieni MP Wanaina Njoroge.
Majority leader and Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung'wah's office in Kikuyu subcounty was also torched.
The protesters also set fire to vehicles parked outside the offices.
Sudi’s club in Eldoret was looted and vandalised, Kuria’s home in Molo was attacked and vehicles set on fire while Njoroge supermarket in Nyeri town was looted and vandalised.
Njoroge said he suffered over Sh550 million in losses.
"I lost movable stock worth Sh450 million and equipment such as bakery shelves, among others, valued at Sh100 million," the MP told the Standard.
Sudi said he had left everything that happened to God.
“I’m not going to wish anything bad to the perpetrators because this is now a fight against me," he said.
Members of the clergy on Friday held a vigil at Kuria’s home to cleanse it after the tragedy.
During his address to the nation on Wednesday, President William Ruto came to the defence of the MPs saying they acted in good faith in efforts to help the country raise more taxes and “redeem our country from the discomfort of debt and assert our sovereignty”.
“We have made significant progress in pulling the nation back from the brink of debt distress. Our debt situation is better managed, and our budget now has space for investment in programmes aimed at easing the hardship on vulnerable people and creating opportunities for the youth,” the President said.
He said the additional revenue measures they had proposed in the Finance Bill were for raising money for critical priority expenditure including the hiring of 46,000 JSS intern teachers, increase NG-CDF by Sh10 billion and increase the allocation to county governments by kshs 15 billion among other interventions.
In his address at State House flanked by government-allied MPs, the President said the new tax measures were to raise Sh346 billion in additional revenue to finance the Sh3.99 trillion 2024-25 budget.
“I’m grateful to all the members of the National Assembly who voted yesterday (Tuesday) affirmatively for the Finance Bill 2024 as amended on the floor of the House to incorporate the views generated in the public participation process,” the President said as he announced he wouldn’t sign the Bill.
“Following the passage of the bill, the country witnessed widespread expression of dissatisfaction with the bill as passed, regrettably resulting in the loss of life, destruction of property and desecration of constitutional institutions,” he said.
“Consequently, having reflected on the continuing conversation around the content of the finance bill of 2024, I will decline to assent to the bill,” Ruto added.
The MPs who voted Yes for the Bill clapped in agreement.