Rose Museo
Kenyan lawmakers might still be shaken after anti-tax demonstrators overran police barricades and stormed parliament on Tuesday – but two of them are grateful to some of the intruders who came to their aid during the chaos.
“I was petrified and I prayed to God as roughly 22 young protesters encircled me,” MP Rose Museo, who relies on crutches, told the BBC.
She and her companion Jackson Kosgei, who uses a wheelchair, were stranded during the two-hour raid while their peers fled through an underground passage for safety.
The youthful protesters shattered windows and eventually infiltrated the chambers in a historic breach that left portions of the parliament in ruins. They even ignited parts of the structure.
Opposition MP Ms Museo had just cast a vote against the contentious bill that incited the uproar.
In the days leading up to the incident, protests were largely peaceful with throngs of young demonstrators marching through Nairobi and other areas, opposing a divisive finance bill set to raise taxes and implement various levies.
However, tensions escalated on Tuesday afternoon when parliament approved the bill, despite the growing size of the protests that day.
Police fired at the crowd gathering around parliament, and moments after the vote, enraged protesters breached the assembly’s compound.
“Everybody had left, and I couldn’t use the lifts because the power was out,” said Ms Museo, who was injured in a 2017 car accident.
Mr Kosgei, a ruling party member who supported the bill aimed at reducing the country’s nearly $80 billion debt, shared his experience with KTN TV.
“We were in the chamber, and suddenly our young men burst in. Everyone sought an escape route,” Mr Kosgei recounted.
The intruders demolished furniture, set fire to the building, and stole a replica of the ceremonial mace, a symbol of parliamentary authority typically displayed in the new wing’s reception area.
“Things got worse, but Rose Museo and I decided to confront the young men as we couldn’t escape due to our disabilities,” said Mr Kosgei, who contracted polio as a child.
“Even in their anger and stress, they retained their humanity” MP Jackson Kosgei
Speaking about the protesters.
The MP, who is also an evangelical bishop, feared for his safety as he had voted in favor of the disputed bill.
Yet, the protesters didn’t harm them; instead, they assisted them to a safer location, from which they were later evacuated.
“They knew who I was and how I had voted,” Mr Kosgei noted.
“But they told me I was a good person and offered to escort me from the building because what might happen wouldn’t be good for me.”
They even offered to arrange a taxi for him: “They asked if I needed an Uber, but I chose to stay as I knew outside parliament was unsafe.”
Ms Museo confirmed the unexpected kindness of the protesters.
They told the two MPs, now in the private members’ lounge, that they intended no harm and were fighting for what they believed was right.
“Holding my hands, they said: ‘Our problem is the finance bill – not you,'” Ms Museo recalled.
Though it was a “terrifying ordeal,” she admitted.
“But they were not harmful at all; they were very kind. They told me: ‘You are our mother, and we can’t hurt you.'” Ms Museo stated.
Mr Kosgei expressed his gratitude, saying, “They saved my life and that of Ms Museo when everyone else had fled.”
“Even in anger and stress, they retained their humanity,” he reiterated.
Millie Odhiambo, known for her outspoken nature, told a local paper she believed the protesters were using the disabled MPs as human shields against potential police attacks.
However, Ms Museo said no police were present when the protesters helped her.
She didn’t fault her colleagues for running, acknowledging that the invasion justifiably frightened everyone.
The lawmakers, led by Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, were swiftly moved through a tunnel connecting the senate and national assembly chambers to a new wing housing MPs’ offices.
Bunge Towers, opened in April, is the office section of the parliament building.
Police eventually cleared the protesters with tear gas and gunfire’s echoing sound.
MPs hid in Bunge Towers’ basement until an evacuation could be organized.
Some, including Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, left in ambulances as protesters hurled stones at MPs’ vehicles, local media reported.
That evening, President William Ruto labeled the parliament invasion a “treasonous” act and an “existential threat.”
Yet, due to the scale of the protests – with medics reporting 23 dead on Tuesday – Mr. Ruto conceded and promised to withdraw the legislation.
He vowed to engage Kenyan youth in dialogue and implement budget cuts starting with the presidency.
For Ms Museo, these traumatic events taught politicians about the power of the people.
She urged parliamentary authorities to establish proper evacuation protocols for MPs with disabilities and endorsed the president’s call for dialogue.
“Protesters are justifiably agitated, their voices heard. Now, they should give dialogue a chance,” Ms Museo concluded.
“They can return to the streets if unsatisfied after the dialogue.”
