Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has disclosed that security officers prevented them from meeting with protesters before the dramatic break-in at Parliament.
Senator Omtatah, who had a clear view of the unfolding events from his office on the 7th floor of Bunge Tower, detailed the sequence of events leading up to the breach.
"First of all, my office is on the 7th floor of Bunge Tower so I had a bird's-eye view of what was going on. We had complained about the armed men who had been brought in; they didn't have any other mark except the sniper rifle," Omtatah recounted.
Omtatah revealed that there were initial plans to engage with the protesters from leaders who were willing to volunteer.
"Initially, we had said we would go and meet the protesters so that they could address us. Some of us volunteered, but the security people could not allow us to do that," he said.
According to him, the security forces' refusal to let them meet the protesters played a crucial role in the escalation of the situation.
The senator further questioned the actions of the police, suggesting they allowed the breach to occur.
"I believe that if the Kenya police wanted to stop anyone from entering Parliament, there is no force that could overpower the police. The police simply allowed that to happen. They pulled back," Omtatah asserted.
He also highlighted the presence of unidentified individuals in civilian clothing who were involved in the chaos.
"The people who were in civilian, we don't know who they were. They were the ones pulling people down," he added.
Omtatah described the moment the situation took a violent turn. "After the first few shots were fired, that is when there was that surge that came in," he said.
The vocal senator raised serious concerns about the extent of the damage within the Parliament, suggesting that some of it might not have been caused by the protesters.
"When you go to Parliament, there is damage in areas I know protesters never reached. So the question is, who was damaging these things? The story in Parliament has not been told," he stated.
The senator's account also included a tragic detail about the use of snipers to cover up the lives they had taken.
"After the snipers had killed people, they had to create a backdrop to justify the violence," Omtatah alleged.
On June 25, demonstrators protesting against the now-withdrawn Finance Bill 2024 gained access to Parliament and vandalised property.
