National Assembly Finance and Planning Chairperson Kuria Kimani, the sponsor of the Finance Bill 2024, says Kenyan youth need what he calls guidance on the legislative process even as they stage protests against the unpopular draft law.
The Finance Bill has sparked nationwide protests led by the youth to pressure MPs to shoot it down in its entirety.
But Kuria argues that Generation Z, whose members have been credited with driving the protests, do not understand how the law-making process works.
“Let us give credit to where Gen Z has taken us. They are raising very pertinent matters but we need to guide them on how that needs to be done in the budget-making and legislative process,” the Molo MP told Citizen TV’s Daybreak program on Monday.
He accused the opposition Azimio La Umoja coalition, which makes the minority in Parliament, of riding on the youth’s push against the Bill.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna had told the program that the opposition would not propose any amendments to the bill but call for its rejection in total.
Edwin Sifuna: If there have been any amendments proposed by the member of the Minority, we are going to be proposing that they drop those amendments and let the government carry its own skank. For us in the Minority, we are going to heed the call from Kenyans to reject this bill… pic.twitter.com/n8ClN4b84g
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) June 24, 2024
Two people have so far been confirmed dead due to police-inflicted injuries from last week’s protests.
Even so, a seven-day protest started on Monday to mount more pressure on the government to shoot down the Bill, which sailed through its Second Reading in the House last week.
