Kenya’s contentious 2024 Finance Bill was passed at the third reading on 25 June 2024, prompting historical protests which saw protesters force their way into the Parliament buildings. President William Ruto has stated that he will not assent to the Bill, and will instead send it back to Parliament for amendments and further debate.
The bill received 195 votes for, and 106 against, with this exercise being termed as a rubber stamping exercise to advance the government’s policies and priorities, instead of Parliament providing oversight and representing the views of Kenyans.
The core role of Parliament is to legislate, represent and provide oversight. Chapter 8 of Kenya’s constitution lays out the role of the legislative branch, stating, “Parliament manifests the diversity of the nation, represents the will of the people, and exercises their sovereignty.” However, given the way consequential bills such as the Finance Bill have been handled begs the question of whether it has been true to that role.
The massive country-wide protests against the Finance Bill reached a tipping point in June 2024, showing the great level of dissatisfaction among the populace. Opinion polls, which year after year show a stark difference between how Parliament votes and what the people they represent want, point in that same direction. In 2023 for instance, 90% of Kenyans were opposed to the Finance Bill which parliament passed (Yes- 176, No – 81) Similarly in 2024 a poll by InfoTrak showed that 85% of Kenyans were opposed to the proposals which Parliament had passed.
If voting patterns are to go by MPs are clearly so faithful to the party position. In both 2023 and 2024 finance bills and indeed all consequential bills, there’s a strong party alignment in how MPs vote. See below how each MP has voted on the 2023 and 2024 finance bills.
Independent candidates were supposed to be different and independent in thinking but as soon as Kenya Kwanza government came in place, all independent candidates were usurped as they affiliated themselves with the government, and now their voting patterns shows how they support the government bills. Out of 12 independent MPs, 8 voted yes, while 2 voted No in 2024 finance bill similarly in 2023, 7 favored and the same 2 voted against it.
Over the years parliament’s independence and trust has been in danger. Threats, claims of bribery and vote rigging have been the norm in the last few years as parliament gets down to business on important bills such as the finance bills.
Political parties threaten to punish its members for non-adherence to what they term as party position. In 2023 ODM Party threatened its MPs by issuing show cause letters to those who skipped the vote. At the same time the president said he was waiting to see those who would oppose the bill, a sentiment that may have been a silent threat to members of his UDA party. This statement was echoed the UDA whip Hon Silvanus Osoro, who promised that the party would punish any member who would oppose the bill.
For those MPs in opposing parties, claims of bribery are common. MPs of the opposing view in other parties are allegedly bribed to vote in favour. These kinds of claims were brought forward in 2018 when then majority whip for the ruling Jubilee party, Hon. Aden Duale was accused of bribing members of other parties to vote in favor of the contentious finance bill that introduced VAT on fuel. In 2023 the Majority Party Chief Whip, Sylvanus Osoro admitted to bribing members of other parties in order to skip the vote on the Finance Bill 2023.
But it doesn’t stop there. The parliamentary voting process has been questioned severally, with accusations of vote manipulation. One instance during the vote for Finance Bill 2018, the system indicated that the total number of MPs present was 352 which was bizarre since the total number of MPs in the house is 349. Such instances have made MPs call for a manual system, as witnessed during the vote for the 2024 finance bill, where MPs from the Azimio coalition asked for a vote by acclamation. There are also instances where Parliament passes bills which get overturned through questionable parliamentary procedures, such as in 2018, when the nays seemed to have been in the majority. The bill was ultimately rejected by then President Uhuru Kenyatta.
At its core, Parliament is meant to be the people’s representative, representing their views in line with the Constitution, and act as a check to the Executive branch of government, but the question is, does our democracy work that way? According to Katiba Institute, our MPs are still subject to the will of their party leaders, meaning that the will of the people is secondary to the priorities of the Government.
All this makes it difficult for Kenyans to trust that Parliament will live up to its role of representubf their wishes, and against this backdrop, Kenyans are taking to the streets to exercise their power. One notable outcome from this is a growing push to recall Members of Parliament, and for the will of the people to prevail in line with the Constitution.
Written by Felix Kiprono, Media Lead at OdipoDev. This article was produced in partnership with OdipoDev and Africa Data Hub.
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