MPs rescued by protesters against finance bill

Kenyan MPs may still be reeling after anti-tax protesters overpowered police and invaded parliament on Tuesday – but two lawmakers are actually grateful to some of the invaders who came to their rescue during the trying times.

“I was very scared and praying to God when there were about 22 young protesters surrounding me,” Congresswoman Rose Museo, who uses crutches, told the BBC.

She and colleague Jackson Kosgei, who uses a wheelchair, were trapped during the two-hour attack which their colleagues escaped by seeking safety through an underground tunnel.

Young protesters smashed windows and eventually entered the chamber in unprecedented scenes that left several areas of parliament severely damaged. Some even burned part of the building.

As an opposition lawmaker, Ms. Museo just voted against a bill that they were so angry about.

When the protests began last week, they were largely peaceful, with thousands of protesters, mostly young people, marching in the capital Nairobi and across the country to protest a controversial finance bill that would raise taxes and introduce a range of other levies.

But tensions flared on Tuesday afternoon when the bill was passed by parliament – despite protests attracting much larger numbers of participants that day.

Police opened fire on the crowd gathered around parliament – and minutes after MPs voted, angry protesters stormed the assembly grounds.

Ms Museo, who was injured in a road accident in 2017, said: “Everyone left and I couldn’t use the elevator because the electricity was cut.

Her colleague Kosgei from the ruling party has supported controversial legislation that would help eliminate the country’s nearly $80 billion national debt.

“We were in the room when suddenly our young men burst in and everyone was looking for a way out,” Mr. Kosgei told KTN TV.

The intruders began destroying furniture, part of the building was burned, and a replica of the ceremonial mace, symbolizing the power of the legislature, was stolen. It is often used to decorate the reception of a new area of ​​​​the parliament building.

“The situation was getting worse but my colleague Rose Museo and I decided to confront those young people because we could not escape our disabilities,” said Mr Kosgei, who became disabled after contracting polio as a child.

The MP, who is also a bishop of a Protestant church, is unsure what will happen to him because he voted in favor of the disputed bill.

But the protesters did not harm the lawmakers, instead helping them move to a safer area, where they were later evacuated from the building.

“They know who I am and even know how I voted,” Mr. Kosgei said.

“But they told me I was a good person and asked me to allow them to escort me out of the building because what happened could not be good for me.”

The parliament invaders even offered to call him a taxi: “They asked me if I needed to call an Uber but I just told them where I wanted to stay because I knew it wasn’t safe outside parliament.”

Museo agreed, saying the protesters’ altruism was surprising.

They spoke to the two MPs, who were now in the private members’ lounge, telling them they meant no harm and were only agitating for what they believed was right.

“They took me by the hand and told me, ‘Our problem is the financial bill’ – not us,” Ms. Museo said.

She admitted that it was still a “terrifying ordeal”.

“But they did no harm, they were very kind to me. They told me: ‘You are our mother and we cannot harm you.'”

Mr Kosgei thanked the protesters for “saving my life and Miss Museo’s when everyone ran away”.

“Even in times of anger and stress, they maintain their humanity,” he said.

Millie Odhiambo, a prominent outspoken MP, told a local newspaper that she believed protesters were simply using disabled MPs as human shields against the threat of police attack.

But Ms. Museo said there was no police presence at the time protesters helped her.

She added that she did not blame her colleagues for fleeing because everyone had good reason to be afraid of the invasion.

Lawmakers led by House Speaker Moses Wetang’ula were taken through a tunnel connecting the Senate and National Assembly debate chambers to a new area where MPs’ officers were located.

The building’s office portion is called Bunge Towers and opened in April.

Police eventually drove protesters out of the building amid a cloud of tear gas and gunfire.

The MPs are hiding in underground bunkers under Bunge Tower until an evacuation can be organised.

To escape the complex, several lawmakers, including Senate President Amason Kingi, were taken away in ambulances as protesters pelted the MPs’ vehicles with stones, local media reported.

Later that evening, President William Ruto called the invasion of parliament an act of “treason” and an “existential threat”.

But given the scale of the protests — doctors said at least 23 people died on Tuesday — Mr Ruto bowed to pressure and said the law would be withdrawn..

He said he would begin a dialogue with Kenyan youth and implement austerity measures, starting with cuts to the presidential budget.

For Ms. Museo, these tragic events are lessons for politicians and show the power of the people.

She called on parliamentary bodies to adopt an appropriate evacuation system for disabled parliamentarians. She also called for the president’s call for dialogue to be taken seriously.

“The protesters are agitated and rightly so, but their voices have been heard and now they should be given a chance for dialogue,” Museo said.

“They can go back to the streets if they are not satisfied after the dialogue.”