Kenya’s Young Senator Wants Ruto’s Gov’t To ‘Stop Talking And Act’
Nominated Senator Crystal Asige has condemned the government for allegedly using brute force to contain Gen Z protesters on Tuesday, resulting in the deaths of several youths.
The young senator claimed that the government had the opportunity to engage in dialogue with the majority of those opposed to its tax policies but did not do so until blood was shed on Parliament’s steps.
In a statement issued on Friday, Asige through X, stated that the government’s handling of dissenting voices on the Finance Bill has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted.
“When young people marched patriotically, wearing Kenyan flags on their backs and raising their voices, you responded with bullets and death. And now you have supposedly ‘heard’ and want dialogue? For 20 months you have been speaking, it’s our time now,” she said.
President William Ruto on Wednesday declined to assent to the contentious Finance Bill, 2024 and returned it to the National Assembly for MPs to delete all clauses.
“I propose an engagement with young people of our nation to listen to their issues and agree with them on their priority areas of concern,” the President said.
“I also propose that within the next 14 days, a multi-sectoral, multistakeholder engagement be held to chart the way forward on matters relating to the content of the bill,” he added.
However, Senator Asige stated that the time for talks has passed and that all young people now want action.
You will never convince our generation that you can ever be trusted, ever again. When young people marched patriotically, wearing Kenyan flags on their backs and raising their voices, you responded with bullets and death. And NOW you have supposedly ‘heard’ and want dialogue? For… pic.twitter.com/8o6DNlzcLH
— Crystal Asige (@CrystalAsige) June 28, 2024
She claimed that multisectoral taskforces, commissions of inquiry, and parliamentary reports on what Kenyan youth want are merely diversionary tactics.
“If you have heard us, then no more talking—just act,” Asige told MPs.
“We want to wake up in the morning with budget allocations reworked, with the Appropriations Bill overhauled, your MPs sacked, your Cabinet Secretaries sacked, the wheels of Constitutional amendments to begin turning, and your resignation on Gen-Z’s desk for them to decide whether to accept.”
While speaking on the House floor on Wednesday, Asige opposed a motion to put the House into recess until the issues listed above are resolved.
“I’m speaking for the youth who are outside this House, we cannot go on recess. It is wrong and it will be completely insensitive to do so,” she said.
“We reject this Finance Bill because we would rather die on our feet than live on our knees. We are not a generation who are silenced by every carrot dangled in front of them.
“We are the generation that asks questions and demands accountability because we understand that we are rich and only if the money that we refuse tastes better than the money that we accept.”
Asige stated that going on recess would demonstrate that “darkness fears democracy”.
“Young Kenyans have looked their oppressor dead in the eye and shown them that when it comes down to the wire, there are only two times to be brave; when you feel like it and when you don’t,” she said.
Senators eventually rejected the Senate Business Committee’s bid to go on recess until July 16, voting 18 against 9.
“And Mr. Speaker, I just want to comfort those (killed and injured) in closing by saying that even though they cut our wings and tie our feet, still we will rise, Viva comrades!”
Kenya’s Young Senator Wants Ruto’s Gov’t To ‘Stop Talking And Act’
