Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has revealed that there was a second attempt to raze down parliament after the June 25 aborted incident during the protests that erupted in Nairobi.
Kindiki did not, however, provide more details about it only stating that they arrested a man with fuel outside the facility.
“Two days after we frustrated the efforts to burn down Parliament and kill members, we arrested a suspect at 4 am outside Parliament carrying fuel intending to go and raze down Parliament,” he said.
Speaking when he appeared before the National Assembly’s Committee on Administration and Internal Security, Kindiki also defended the police over what happened during the fateful day.
He noted that the criminals who penetrated Parliament were not “coming for fun but to burn down the facility and kill people.”
He equated this to the January 6, 2020, attack on Capitol Hill in the United States which he termed as an attack on democracy.
“Lives were lost in that country but they have never discussed it. No media or any person has discussed it about the lives lost to protect the American democracy,” he remarked.
He said for the country to remain sustainable and for the democracy to function, there is a need to ensure that institutions established within the constitution are protected.
“If we overthrow constitutional offices like parliament, judiciary or executive we will have no country. We will have nowhere even to discuss these,” he said.
“If we never have applied force on that fateful day in Parliament, we would be talking about a different Kenya, a different scenario.”
The CS also maintained that 42 people died as a result of Gen Z-led protests contrary to claims by human rights groups putting the number at 61.
"There were 42 cases of people who lost their lives during the Gen Z demonstrations," he said.
On arrests during the protests, he stated that there were 1,208, with most of them still in court.
"A total of 1,208 people were arrested countrywide during the Gen Z demonstrations and most of the cases are still pending before court for various charges," he said.
He was responding to questions by Ugenya Member of Parliament David Ochieng who had asked for a detailed report including names of the affected.
