One hundred days ago today, something unprecedented in Kenya’s independence history happened: Parliament fell.
Like an elephant brought down by a thorn, the hallowed House on June 25, 2024 collapsed under the sting of unlikely ‘bees’ — GenZs.
While many an observer never saw this coming, signs of Parliament invasion were, for weeks, written all over the internet.
On social media, for instance, youthful Kenyans had expressed their unrelenting opposition to Finance Bill 2024, citing the punitive taxes and levies therein— including those imposed on cars, bread, sanitary pads, mobile-money transfer, vegetable oil, imported eggs, onions and potatoes.
In the proposed law, President William Ruto targeted to raise an additional Sh346 billion to finance his ambitious Sh3.9 trillion 2024/25 budget.
For weeks, Kenyan youth ardently expressed their outrage online, with significant social media mentions signalling contempt towards the bill, and elaborate plans to storm Parliament— telltale signs that Kenya’s intelligence seem to have ignored.
On X, the hashtag #OccupyParliament, alluding to a siege on Parliament, gathered more than 1.8 million mentions and 5.3 billion impressions between June 15th and July 19th, 2024.
#RejectFinanceBill2024, expressing discontentment towards the proposed law, had an engagement of over 52 million and 48 billion impressions, according to a Meltwater analysis conducted by Nation.Africa between June 16th and 28th, 2024.
On TikTok, within the same time, more than 17,000 posts had been attached to the hashtag #OccupyParliament.
However, when it became clear that the lawmakers were not paying attention to the online rage, the fury was transferred to the streets of Nairobi and 35 other counties of East Africa’s economic powerhouse.
But the first attempt to occupy Parliament had come a week prior— on the evening of June 20, when angry youths, who had staged a day-long protest in Nairobi’s Central Business District, pelted stones at structures and cars parked inside Parliament Buildings.
Their rock attacks were sparked by lawmakers’ decision to pass the bill during its First Reading.
But the full wrath of the protesters, whose grievances had been largely downplayed, would be felt a week later. Not even the warning by the then Inspector-General of Police Japheth Koome could stop them.
On the morning of Tuesday, June 25, a map showing the layout of Parliament Buildings was shared online.
