Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo /X
Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo has given a candid account of how events unfolded when Gen Z protesters breached security cordons and stormed Parliament on June 25, 2024, during the anti-tax demonstrations.
On that day, MPs defied widespread public opposition and passed the Finance Bill, 2024, even as thousands of protesters gathered outside Parliament chanting, "Reject Finance Bill."
Reports that the controversial Bill had been passed with provisions many Kenyans considered punitive further inflamed public anger, prompting protesters to make good on their threat to occupy Parliament.
Demonstrators torched a military lorry that had been positioned as a barricade at Parliament's main entrance, pulled down sections of the perimeter wall and forced their way into the precincts.
Once inside, they ransacked offices, vandalised furniture, ate food from the parliamentary cafeteria and entered the chambers, where some livestreamed mock parliamentary proceedings while shouting, "Mr Speaker Sir."
They also set a section of the Parliament on fire before they were pushed back by armed security officers. Several protesters died in the process.
Terrified MPs fled the House, with some escaping through the underground tunnel linking Parliament Buildings to Bunge Towers, where lawmakers' offices are located.
Speaking on a podcast hosted by Chaxy, Millie described the day as chaotic and frightening, saying many of the events that unfolded have never been fully told.
She said opposition MPs resisted most of the proposed amendments to the Finance Bill but were outnumbered by government-allied lawmakers, with 195 MPs voting in favour and 106 against.
"When we saw we could not succeed, we decided to march out. We were going to give a presser, but on our way out, we were told somebody had been shot outside Parliament," she said.
"I then saw a group of hooded people with guns," she added.
Fearing for her safety, Millie said she initially ran back into the parliamentary lounge instead of returning to the chamber.
"I said if I'm seeing hooded people with guns around Parliament, I'm not taking chances. After a while, I was told that Parliament had been breached on the side of the Senate, so I ran back into Parliament, and I warned the other parliamentarians, and I told them, 'Please leave.'"
She said she had cautioned colleagues that their safety could no longer be guaranteed because the crowd that had entered Parliament appeared to have been infiltrated and was not necessarily made up of the peaceful Gen Z protesters.
"I was chased and I remember I ran into Parliament barefoot at that point and they chased me. They told me, 'You are just trying to scare us and we are finishing.'"
Her warnings, she said, were initially dismissed, but lawmakers soon realised the gravity of the situation as events rapidly deteriorated.
Struck by the magnitude of the danger, some MPs fainted as they attempted to flee.
"I was sharing with one of my colleagues the other day that when I see her today, I remember seeing her faint in the tunnel, which I discovered that day. I didn't even know it existed. I had heard that there was a tunnel, but I had never used it."
Millie said MPs were instructed to evacuate through the tunnel, where she also saw a pregnant lawmaker who appeared to be on the verge of going into labour.
"It was terrible. People have not given half the stories of what happened to Parliament that day, and that's why, sometimes, when we forget and go back, I'm like, 'I don't know what demon has befallen us.'"
She said lawmakers employed every possible means to escape Parliament, including disguising themselves in ambulances, although some of the vehicles were intercepted by protesters.
"They were stoned and taken back to Parliament. People were picked up in choppers. Some members told me they ran into some buildings and the watchmen refused to allow them in. They said, 'Go and sort out the mess. We are not allowing you in here,'" she said.
Asked what might have happened had the tunnel not existed, Millie replied: "Half the Parliament would be no more."
She was, however, quick to distinguish between peaceful protesters and those she believes infiltrated the demonstrations.
"It's not because of Gen Z, because Gen Z were fairly peaceful," she said, recalling that some protesters even assisted lawmakers living with disabilities to safety.
Millie described the most painful moment of her life being when she encountered the MPs living with disabilities near the parliamentary lounge as she rushed back to collect her bag.
"And that's one of my saddest moments in Parliament because they asked me to help them and I didn't know. You know how you face a moral dilemma? I didn't know what to do, and they asked me to help them, and everybody was running, and I was also running.
"Then they told me, 'They know you, and they don't have issues with you,' and I know, but the problem is that there was infiltration, so I told them, 'I don't think there's anybody in their right mind who'd attack a person with disability,'" she said.
"I told them I would just pray for you, but unfortunately, I have to leave, and that's when I ran."
According to Millie, she also encountered Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris in the tunnel, appearing disoriented and running towards what others believed was the more dangerous direction.
"She was running towards where people were running from. Others were in the tunnel, fainting; it was chaotic. It was a terrible day. I'm writing something about it. There's nothing I have ever seen like that," she said.
Millie maintained that the events of June 25 could have been avoided had MPs listened to the concerns raised by Kenyans over the Finance Bill.
In the aftermath of the protests, President William Ruto declined to assent to the Finance Bill, 2024, and referred it back to the National Assembly.
On July 25, 2024, Parliament formally rejected the Bill in its entirety.
Families of those killed and civil society groups have been holding June 25 memorial protests to commemorate the victims of the 2024 youth-led anti-government demonstrations.
