Mumias East Peter Salasya on Sunday night revealed that young parliamentarians were usually manipulated into passing controversial bills in parliament.
Speaking during an interaction with Kenyans on X Spaces, the parliamentarian explained that this was what happened during Finance Bill voting.
Salasya remarked that most Kenya Young Parliamentarians Association (KYPA) had deliberated and agreed to vote against the Finance Bill.
“If there is a controversial bill that has to go through, the MPs are called to State House,” he explained of the lobbying process.
“Like last time they had decided to vote No but the moment these guys were called to State House, when they came back everything had changed.”
The first-term MP remarked that it was ironic because, during an earlier interaction with President William Ruto, the young legislators had been urged by the Head of State to take legislation seriously.
The Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) elected MP remarked that this was a challenge due to constant meddling by the Executive.
“All these problems that we are facing is because we are lacking a parliament that is vibrant, a parliament that can oversight executive,” he complained.
The Mumias East MP who went on to vote No in the now-retracted Finance Bill further lamented it was hard for the young parliamentarians to be heard on the floor of the House.
He painted a picture where veteran MPs monopolise discussions on the floor of the House with help from parliament’s top leadership.
According to the MP, the veteran MPs go further and evict vocal young legislators from departmental committees.
In March 2024, Salasya complained of a political witchhunt after he was removed from the Departmental Committee on Regional Development.
