Thousands of Kenyans have joined protests against the Finance Bill 2024, as the controversial bill comes up for its second reading.
- The protests dubbed ‘Occupy Parliament’ have directed its participants to dress in black and to carry placards with messages rejecting the Finance Bill.
- The ‘Occupy Parliament’ protests have been publicized as a strategy to influence and pressurize members of parliament to vote against the bill and its proposed taxes which have been perceived as ‘punitive’.
- Protesters have been asked to maintain sobriety and calm, but as early as this morning, there has been an atmosphere of an impending clash between protesters and the police.
The protesters believe that an array of taxes listed in the Finance Bill will aggravate the hardship experienced by Kenyans. This includes the rising cost of commodities as well as the glaring risk of unemployment.
The animosity towards the Finance Bill began last week when contacts of parliamentarians were shared on social networking apps. Kenyans would then text their MPs and plead or demand they oppose the bill.
“It’s a peaceful protest, and we believe these officers are being mobilised to protect us. We notified the NPS. IG Koome is well aware that the constitution, Article 37 gives every Kenyan the right to protest, and picket anywhere,” said one of the protest’s conveners, Boniface Mwangi.
Mwangi added that some of the protest’s organizers and social media mobilizers have been arrested this morning. He says that letters notifying the police of the protest were filed on Saturday 15th June.
“The Court stated that under the Public Order Act, the OCS is the only person who should receive the notice for a demonstration and they were delivered last week,” another activist said on X (formerly Twitter).
A counter movement has also sought to quell the popularity of the #Rejectfinancebill hashtag. These opposers have specified that the protests would be futile as all concerns against the bill ought to have been presented to the Finance and National Planning Committee led by Molo MP Kuria Kimani.
However, many Kenyans have cast doubt on the fruitfulness of the recommendations stage which has been regarded as a cosmetic affair where no real changes can ensue. The protesters have recommended the scrapping of the entire finance bill, and tiny tweaks to some popular proposals would not purify the document.
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