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NCCK calls for overhaul of controversial Finance Bill amid nationwide protests

Mombasa County residents take part in 'Occupy Parliament' protests, against the Finance Bill on June 19, 2024. (Photo: Farhiya Hussein/EV)

By Bashir Mohammed | Saturday, June 22, 2024

He warned that ignoring public sentiment could precipitate a severe social crisis. “If you don’t listen to the people, you risk pushing this country into an uncontrollable social crisis.”

The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) has called for a complete overhaul of the controversial Finance Bill, 2024, citing widespread public rejection across the nation.

The call comes after the National Assembly voted to approve President William Ruto's contested Bill in the Second Reading, amid countrywide protests against taxation measures in the proposed law.

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Speaking in Machakos Town, NCCK Lower Eastern Region Chairman Festus Malua emphasised the profound concerns expressed by Kenyans regarding the Bill.

“Having closely monitored the spirited engagement of Kenyans on the Finance Bill, 2024, we challenge both the Executive and Parliament to listen to the people. Considering that this is not the first Finance Bill in Kenya, why is it the first one to attract such a high level of frustration and despair across the country?” Malua posed.

Malua referenced a biblical warning to underscore the moral imperative for leaders to act justly, citing Isaiah 10:1-3: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar?”

He warned that ignoring public sentiment could precipitate a severe social crisis. “If you don’t listen to the people, you risk pushing this country into an uncontrollable social crisis.”

The clergy also defended the right of Kenyans to peaceful assembly and protest, as enshrined in Article 37 of the Kenyan Constitution, which guarantees every citizen the right “to peaceably and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, and to present petitions to public authorities.”

Malua expressed deep concern over the excessive force employed by security officers during recent demonstrations against the Bill.

“We are therefore deeply concerned about the manner in which security officers employed excessive force during the demonstrations witnessed across the country this week. We have today joined all Kenyans in mourning the youth who died after being shot. We have also prayed for the quick recovery of the more than 200 youths who were injured in the fracas and, more so, the six who are nursing gunshot wounds. We are also praying for the police officers who were injured when a teargas canister exploded,” Malua said.

He questioned the justification for such force, noting that the protests had been peaceful until the violent crackdown. “Why was such force used when the youth had been peaceful all day long?” he asked.

In light of these events, Malua urged the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the use of excessive force by police officers during the protests.

IPOA has already launched investigations following the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Rex Kanyike Masai by police in Nairobi.

In a statement on X, IPOA Chairperson Anne Makori acknowledged that while both protestors and police largely showed restraint, specific incidents of excessive force, such as Masai's shooting and injuries sustained by other protestors, were under investigation.