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MPs who approved Finance Bill are Kenya's true heroes - Ruto

Members of Parliament. during a past session at the National Assembly. (Photo: File)

By Maureen Kinyanjui | Sunday, June 30, 2024

While explaining that his work, since taking office in September 2022, has been to pull Kenya out of the debt trap, he regretted that the rejection of the bill would come with serious consequences.

President William Ruto has once again applauded the 195 Members of Parliament who voted for the Finance Bill, 2024, saying they grabbed an opportunity to free Kenya from the debt burden.

“MPs who voted in favour of the Finance Bill are the true heroes of Kenya, as they saw an opportunity for the country to unchain itself from debt," he told a roundtable broadcast on live television on Sunday night.

He was interviewed at the State House in Nairobi with Linus Kaikai (Citizen TV), Joe Ageyo (NTV), and Eric Latiff (KTN).

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President Ruto has said time and again that Kenyans must bear the burden of freeing themselves from debt, but he declined to assent to the bill last Wednesday, saying he had heard the people's cries against excessive taxation.

“Having reflected on the continuing conversation around the content of the Finance Bill 2024, and listening keenly to the people of Kenya, who have said loudly they don’t want anything to do with this Finance Bill, I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill and it shall subsequently be withdrawn and I have agreed with these members that this becomes our collective position,” he said.

It was in this address that he first defended MPs who voted for the proposed laws, saying they played their part in ensuring the country met its revenue obligations.

“I am grateful to all the members of the National Assembly who voted yesterday affirmatively for the Finance Bill 2024 as amended on the floor of the House to incorporate the views generated in the public participation process,” he said at the time.

He, however, backed down when the bill sparked an outcry across the country, resulting in death, looting, and vandalism.

President William Ruto: I will do my best. I will tell the country the truth and take the country forward and I see Kenya changing.

If I had managed to pass this Finance Bill, we would have taken this country forward with the kind of investments I have made and collaboration… pic.twitter.com/OdK4z2o76V
— The Eastleigh Voice (@Eastleighvoice) June 30, 2024

Ruto further said that people thought the bill was his invention yet it has been in existence since independence.

While explaining that his work, since taking office in September 2022, has been to pull Kenya out of the debt trap, he regretted that the rejection of the bill would come with serious consequences.

“We have dropped the Finance Bill, which means we have gone back almost two years and that this year we are going to borrow Sh1 trillion to be able to run the government. I have been working very hard to pull Kenya out of a debt trap. Dropping the bill has huge consequences,” he said.