The Member of Parliament for Odododiodio, Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye, who is in Kenya, disclosed this in an interview with Alfred Ocansey on Ghana Tonight.
The rest of the MPs are; Emmanuel Gyamfi, MP Odotobri, Sylvester Tetteh, MP for Bortianar Ngleshi Amanfro, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, Asuagyaman, Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru-MP for Nanton and Mrs Anita Quartey-Papafio, the Clerk.
He said members of the Local Government Committee of Parliament have been in Kenya since Saturday, June 22 on a benchmarking tour of the Kenyan National Assembly.
Nii Lantey said they had a meeting with the Finance Committee of the Kenyan Senate on Tuesday after which they were about to have lunch.
“All of a sudden, we heard that a movement called Gen Z, which has had some demonstrations in the past. Over the past two weeks, they have organized some demonstrations against government’s intention to introduce new taxes in order to raise some $3.2 billion in order to finance government business in 2024-2025. Some of the taxes the youth felt were unnecessary, draconian and will further impoverish them,” the MP explained.
Nii Lantey continued that, “one of the things they talked about is the echo tax, which looks like the pollution tax which our government wanted to impose. They also had sanitation tax and a nuisance tax on bread. Seventeen taxes the government wants to introduce and the youth said enough is enough. They are already suffering and they are not going to accept any taxes. They also complain that the current administration has borrowed so much but they cant see anything, so they are not going to accept any taxes until government has accounted for all the money it borrowed.”
He added that, “I think they got the information that today the second reading of the bill will be done. So, they decided to besiege the parliament house to stop the senators from going ahead.
It was horrible to see. It got to a point where the policemen were running away. The youth virtually overrun the police. They broke the Parliament house gate, they burnt two police vehicles. They were throwing their own canisters at the Police and the soldiers could not stop them.”
The Odododiodoo MP said it was only by the grace of God that they were taken to safety.
“All the Kenyan MPs ran away. The Speaker was taken away to the Library and subsequently out of the building. About 100 of the youth are injured and over 200 have been arrested… I want to assure families of those of us who are here, Emmanuel Gyamfi, MP Odotobri, Sylvester Tetteh, MP for Bortianar Ngleshi Amanfro, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, Asuagyaman, Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru-MP for Nanton and our Clerk, Mrs Anita Quartey-Papafio. We are all safe and sound,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, has expressed deep concern about the outbreak of violence in Kenya following public protests which has resulted in loss of life and damage to property.
A statement issued by the Union, dated June 25 said the Chairperson urges all stakeholders to exercise calm and refrain from further violence.
“The Chairperson also appeals to national stakeholders to engage in constructive dialogue to address the contentious issues that led to the protests in the supreme interest of Kenya,” the statement added.
“The Chairperson reiterates the total solidarity of the African Union with the Government and People of Kenya and exhorts them to maintain peace, security and stability in the country,” H.E. Mahamat stated.
Protesters run for cover
Earlier, CNN reported that Kenyan President William Ruto denounced the protests on Tuesday that saw parliament stormed and at least five people shot dead as “treasonous” – but did not address the swelling outrage against a controversial finance bill that sparked the widespread demonstrations.
Kenya is in the grip of nationwide protests against proposed tax hikes, culminating in Tuesday’s “total shutdown” of the country, which quickly turned violent as police used tear gas and live rounds on protesters.
A CNN team saw two bodies lying motionless on the ground in Nairobi as the country’s parliament was breached.
During a nationwide address after parliament was set alight, Ruto said the events on Tuesday were a grave threat to “national security” and that the conversation around the bill had been “hijacked by dangerous people.”
“It is not in order, or even conceivable, that criminals pretending to be peaceful protesters can reign terror against the people, their elected representatives, and the institutions established under our Constitution and expect to go scot-free,” the president said, adding that democratic expression and crime must be isolated from one another.
Kenya’s defense ministry said the military has been deployed to support the country’s police services as human rights and civil society groups criticize the heavy-handed response by the police on Tuesday.
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