By: Godfred Amoaful
Five Ghanaian members of Parliament and a Clark of Parliament, who were among several others that were attacked by the Kenyan youth protestors at the Kenya Senate House, are safe, according to Nii Lantey Vanderpuye.
The Kenyan Parliament was besieged by the youth group over the introduction of new taxes by the government.
The new tax proposal was in its third reading in Parliament when the youth group stormed the Senate House to stop the process.
The Ghanaian members of Parliament who form the Local Government Committee and a Clark have been in Kenya on a study tour to learn about the Kenyan National Benchmarking and how well they handle disbursement and fiscal financing of Local Level Governance and of Local Administration.
The Member of Parliament for Odododiodio, Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, who is among the Ghanian delegation in Kenya, spoke to the Ghanaian media via Zoom, assuring that all members and the Clark are safe and hoping to continue their business in the subsequent day if possible.
He recounted that, while in a meeting with the Kenyan Finance Committee in Parliament, the protestors besieged the House, broke the Parliament gate, vandalised the National Chamber, ransacked the pantry, and ate all the food in the kitchen that had been served to the MPs.
According to Mr. Vanderpuye, the youth overshadowed the military, who were guarding the House, to have access to the Parliament House.
According to reports, 13 members of the protestors have lost their lives, while hundreds have sustained various degrees of injuries.
Some 200 or so unconfirmed arrests were made.
In May this year, Kenya’s Parliament proposed the “2024 Finance Bill,” which would mainly alter the tax system to pay off debt.
The bill was heavily criticised by younger Kenyans, especially those concerned with the increase in taxes, and these younger Kenyans have “guided the protests”. They initially mobilised online using social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Young activists circulated calls to action, translated the Bill into several local languages, used the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT to answer questions about the Bill, and leaked the phone numbers of political leaders in order to allow protestors to spam them with SMS and WhatsApp messages.
Peaceful protests began on June 18, 2024 in Nairobi, leading to arrests that were widely condemned.
On 19 June, Parliament amended the bill, removing some controversial clauses.
According to reports, the youth will continue their protest at the Statehouse to prevent President Ruto from accenting the bill.
Mr. Vanderpuye said, “It was horrible to see; it got to a point where the Police were running away. The youth broke the Parliament gate, broke police vehicles, and threw objects at the policemen. Soldiers came in, but the soldiers couldn’t stop them. We had just finished our meeting with the Finance Committee and we were preparing to have lunch. We had nothing to do but to run away from our lunch because that was where they were coming from. All of us, including a delegation from Namibia and Malawi, and all MPs from those countries who are also here for the same benchmarking, were all ushered into a tunnel to provide us with some safety.”
He said, “We were there for about two hours. They later threw us from the tunnel and to one of the committee rooms upstairs which was much more convenient than the tunnel where we were. We spent about three hours there. The military had to call for reinforcement, and that helped push the young men away from the Parliament house. But that was after they had vandalised the National Chamber, also breaking into the kitchen and the storeroom of the MPs and ate food meant for the MPs.”
“They made driving impossible on the main road, as at the time we were leaving the premises.”
“I have seen many demonstrations, but what I saw today is something serious,” he added.
Mr Vanderpuye, however, said they were safe. None of the members were hurt, and they are hoping to continue their business when necessary.