Senators have thwarted an attempt by the Senate leadership to adjourn House sessions following the violent invasion of Parliament by protesters on Tuesday. The lawmakers voted 19 to 9 against the bid by the Senate Business Committee, chaired by Speaker Amason Kingi, to have them go on recess to ‘mourn’ those shot dead during the demonstrations.
“Therefore, this is to provide for that opportunity to pose and perhaps mourn lives that were lost and sympathize with those that were injured including the police officers,” the Majority leader Aaron Cheruiyot said.
Kericho Senator moved a motion to adjourn the House from Wednesday until July 16. The Senators had just resumed from a three-week-long recess on Tuesday but could not transact any business after angry anti-Finance Bill 2024 protesters breached Parliament.
Minority Leader Stewart Madzayo backed his majority counterpart, emphasizing the need for investigations to establish the details of the invasions and the killings that occurred around Parliament.
“We also want to know whether the police officers who were at the parliament gate agreed or allowed people to invade parliament or whether it was intentional,” he said.
However, the members rejected the bid, arguing that adjourning the House would imply cowardice on the part of lawmakers who are supposed to provide direction during such critical moments. Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni was the first to oppose the motion, emphasizing that this was the time for a bipartisan approach to resolve the issues facing the country.
“If you are an elected leader, at this point, the people you represent are looking up to us to provide solutions,” he said.
He added;
“By adjourning this House, we are running away from confronting the challenges and the problems that are facing us as a country. If you adjourn this House and I retreat to the village, how am I going to address the issues that are on the table?”
“I oppose. I am sorry to differ with the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders. We cannot adjourn while the country is burning. Parliament can sit even during wartime. However, if we adjourn and run away, then we are cowards.”
For his part, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei said there was no way parliament would ‘run away from responsibility even during times of war.’
The vocal lawmaker said this was the right time for Parliament to sit and be part of the conversation on what the young people, otherwise known as Generation Z, are raising.
“Imagine if young people tomorrow said in their proposal that they need policy and legislative intervention, where will we be? We will be somewhere taking care of cows in Narok or Luanda where the market is in disarray. Let us avoid being emotional,” he said.
Senators Moses Kajwang (Homa Bay), Peris Tobiko (Nominated), Crystal Asige (Nominated), Enoch Wambua (Kitui), and Catherine Mumma (Nominated) are among those who opposed the motion.
“How can we go on a recess? Why are we going on a recess? We have just come from a three-week recess period. Why do we need two more weeks to reflect?” Senator Asige posed.
Senator Kajwang asked the House to summon the country’s security chiefs to explain the security breach in parliament and the wanton shootings and killings of protesters by the police.
“We cannot run away from our constitutional mandate when we have our people lying in morgues, hospitals, and detention centres,” he said.
Kajwang added;
“The very least we should do is call the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration to come to this House and tell us the number of people who were killed while exercising their constitutional rights.”
