Tourism Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua has called for level-headedness on the side of protesters as they exercise their right to picket and condemned acts that put lives of other Kenyans at risk.
The CS condemned Tuesday’s 'Occupy Parliament' demonstrations saying they were largely propelled by propaganda and sadly, caused life-changing injuries to a police officer.
Chief Inspector David Karori Maina, who was among officers deployed to quell the demos, lost his forearms after a teargas canister exploded on him outside Kencom, Nairobi.
“Today he is a disabled person, that man is somebody’s son, that man is a father to somebody in this country,” Mutua said.
The officer allegedly delayed deploying a teargas canister after detonating it.
A female colleague who was nearby also suffered serious chest injuries and is hospitalised.
The 'Occupy Parliament' protests were largely driven by young Kenyans who poured on the streets of Nairobi to oppose proposed ‘punitive’ tax measures contained in the Finance Bill, 2024.
While moving the motion for debate of the report of the Finance Committee on Wednesday, Chairman Kimani Kuria told Parliament that the Bill seeks to collect around Sh346 billion additional revenue for the proposed Sh3.9 trillion budget.
He reiterated that some of the contentious clauses like the 16 per cent VAT on bread and diapers had been dropped.
But during Tuesday’s demos, the youth demanded that the entire Bill be dropped as they engaged police in running battles.
Some were arrested and later released. Mutua blamed their actions for the officers’ injuries.
“You boys and girls as you demonstrate there and fight with the police, how do you feel that that man is disabled? Police officers are people, they are human beings, they feel the pain,” Mutua said.
The CS defended government’s tax policies saying they are not intended to hurt Kenyans and urged the youth to interrogate the proposed Bill and desist from being driven by what he termed as propaganda to protest in the streets.
“We are trying to do the best for this country, so all these propaganda, activism, my beautiful young people…look at the facts and don’t get caught up in activism, in violence that leads to bloodshed. That officer who has lost his arms, the blood he has shed is on you,” he said.
Mutua was speaking during the launch of the National Wildlife Census 2024 in Narok county.
The initiative aims to assess the status of wildlife in the Greater Masai Mara Ecosystem.
